Singin' in the rain

During the recent rain, I caught a bus and (heading to Fairhaven and the bookstore) I got off early so I could walk along the bay, with my trusty umbrella and raincoat (and camera). We don't usually get downpours here in the Pacific Northwest. My husband says in North Carolina they called them "frog stranglers" and a friend from Missouri referred to them as "toad chokers" -- both of which seem to refer to rain coming down so hard and fast that the poor amphibians were unable to cope. (He says this is more like six inches in a couple of hours!) But here in Bellingham, we usually have a nice light rain, where it can rain all day and still not add a half inch to the total.

This lone duck was swimming in the bay with nobody else around him, and far away in the distance a ship was alight in the gloom. [I have been informed this is a cormorant, not a duck.] I was pretty comfortable in my gear, except I realized after awhile I should have added rain pants; I would have been a lot drier. No matter, it wasn't cold, and I hummed a little tune as I walked. Not many people out and about in the rain. After walking around and getting pretty wet, I finished the stroll in Fairhaven and went into my local bookstore, then caught the bus back home. The rain was still coming down.

After I arrived home, we had a deluge. Suddenly I heard the rain so loud on the roof it roared, and in the distance, thunder. Then lightning. We went out on the front porch and watched in amazement as we experienced a true thunderstorm here in Bellingham.

After the excitement was over, I nestled down in my favorite chair and picked up the book I bought while at the bookstore, Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. This link goes to Pollan's own description of the book and what he wanted to communicate in it. He sums it all up in seven words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I'm just starting the book, but so far I'm enjoying it very much.

There are worse things than having a good book to read, light rain pattering outside, birds all congregating at my feeders and adding their own background sounds to my day. This beautiful little girl I captured in the rain looks like she's not having any problem enjoying life.