On Rain

The last week has been wet.  As a Seattle native I don't mind the rain all that much.  In fact, there's a lot that I love about the rain. I love the sound it makes as it taps steady on rooftops.  I love how it turns streets into canvases that can be painted neon by store signs or splashed with alternating coats of red, green and yellow by traffic lights.  I love the slick sound of tires through puddles.  I love raindrops across windows and windshields and how each drop picks up and reflects the surrounding world in miniature.  I love the smell of the first rain after a dry spell.  At times rain is perfect.  When you have absolutely nowhere to go, the rain can be a nice excuse to curl up inside with a good book or a movie you've been meaning to watch and just relax.

Rain can also be a nuisance, though (like when you have to walk home and you're wearing ballet flats and an effectively useless jacket and it just starts to absolutely pour).  However, since we moved into our condo and pretty much walk everywhere that's walkable, I decided to prepare myself for the inevitable winter rain.  I bought new rain boots and started keeping a small umbrella in my over-sized tote and I wear my rain jacket if the skies display even the slightest hint of breaking out in any one of rain's many incarnations (be it the possibility of a steady drizzle, quick sun shower, light mist or torrential downpour).  And I'm happy to report so far, so good. On the days it's been raining, I bundle up in my rain gear, coax Buckwheat out the door and marvel at the way things look after a healthy dose of sopping, wet rain (while I stay warm and dry)!

Below are some recent rainy day iPhone photos:

This is what Buckwheat looks like when it's raining

This is my rain appropriate gear

On Friday afternoon the water was rising and the skies were misty

It was a little muddy (but I didn't mind)

Here's a view of Holy Cross Church and the waterlogged levee

I swear the levee went from a dried up brown to a lush green overnight!

View from the footbridge over the San Lorenzo

Rising water levels under the 1

Rainy day discoveries

Berries and Vines

Wet grass, dry feet.

My fall foliage obsession continues . . .

A dog's gotta walk, rain or shine!

Okay, we're getting a little wet -- time to get back inside!

And this is what a pool looks like after a couple days of rain

 On Sunday, the skies cleared (after a morning of heavy rain and flash flood warnings) and the San Lorenzo River levee looked like this:

High waters under blue skies

Clouds in the river path

Okay, I might also be obsessed with puddles . . .

Yep, it's official.

Water levels on Sunday

The footbridge over the San Lorenzo

The river from the west side.

The San Lorenzo displays a rare current

But let's get back to the puddles!

More crrents and puddles . . .

And here's one more puddle photo from today:

Branches in puddles (puddled branches?)

I love living somewhere where it's sunny for most of the year and I know that if it rains for too many days in a row, I'm going to miss that sunshine (and all the possibilities that a sunny day entails) but, at least for now, the rain feels like a nice change. 

On November

Because I didn't end up posting much last month, here is November in iPhone photos:

The second Saturday of November we took an 11 mile run into Wilder Ranch.

This was the view from the halfway point on our run.

One day we bought Buckwheat a new fall bandana and a "toothbrush" because he's got the stinky breath!

In mid November the evenings were especially pretty.  This is an (intentionally) out of focus picture of the evening colors on one of our after work walks.

And here is evidence of another beautiful November evening.

One night I was walking home from work and the sky looked like this.

And for a couple of minutes the clouds were made out of cotton candy.

The next morning was pretty spectacular, too.

And then the San Lorenzo filled with clouds

And it looked like you could have swum straight into the sky.

With the clouds came some rain and on a Friday evening we drove into the city (San Francisco)

To see Milo Greene play at the Independent.

It was a great show.

At a great venue.

With great people (photo taken by C).

Back in Santa Cruz we passed a lazy Sunday morning with Buckwheat

At the dog park, rainbow leaves were underfoot.

And then a little more rain revealed some rainbows on the asphalt.

Over the long Thanksgiving holiday Christian served up some french toast (it was delicious)!

The day after Thanksgiving we made a trip to Salinas (to visit the Steinbeck museum) and stopped at Moss Landing on the way back.

The afternoon was warm and the moon was out.

We enjoyed a late lunch at the Haute Enchilada

Which is as cute as the food is delicious.

And on our way back to the parking lot, I spotted an owl!

Next we took in some views at Salinas River State Beach

Where we basked in the late afternoon light

And felt pretty lucky to live here.

(Buckwheat came too).

The next day we took Buckwheat to Its Beach so he could frolic.

It was another sky blue sky day.

On the last day of the long holiday weekend we lingered a little while in bed

And enjoyed our little nut's company.

I took a lot of photos of Buckwheat.

The rain came back and Buckwheat was a wet dog.

But I thought he looked especially cute.

When we went back to work, Buckwheat looked at us like this.

But it didn't take long for us to get back into our routine (Here is Buckwheat, The Leaf Connoisseur on our midday walk).

During the last week of November the forecast called for rain, rain and more rain.  So I got myself some new rain boots (and luckily they arrived just before the storm hit).

Yes, November was a pretty good month.