In which the rain rain rain came down down down

It's been raining for something like 4 or 5 days straight. Well, not quite perpetually - with mild breaks of mere cloudiness and the occasional glimpse of blue sky. All this precipitation, while encouraging cups of tea, reading of books, watching of Netflix, and just keeping cozy, has also cause our little babbling brook to become the mighty Mississippi. Or, well, some semblance thereof.

Behold the swollen flood.

Can't quite see it, eh? 

I guess you really have nothing to compare it to, but it's usually 1/3 that width and you can see clear to the bottom as it gurgles along. This is quite the torrent by comparison. It's still well below the brink on our side, so I don't really feel threatened that we'll be flooded by it, but it's still impressive.

I can't imagine how high the Shenandoah is right now - there's a local bridge referred to as "Low Water Bridge" because, well, that's the only time you can actually cross the river there. It was constructed in 1925, and we keep hearing rumors that the town wants to tear it down and build a bigger, safer, more modern one in its place. I like it, frankly, as it's something of an oddity and I'm a little sentimental about weird things like this.

You can basically sit on the edge and dangle your feet in the river when the water level is like this.

As you might imagine, with these kinds of rains this bridge is totally washed out, and the people who live on the other side have to take a rather long way around to get to town. We used to ask around on campus, "Does anyone know if Low Water is out? Did Dr. _________ make it to class today?" No joke. Maybe this is why we still want this bridge - it might mean there's no class! (for those still attending the college down the road).

I don't mind summer rainy days so much, because they aren't like the winter ones where the cold damp just cuts right through to your skin, making one miserable. I'm not sure how people live in Seattle with this weather all year round, though. I need my Vitamin D!

My radio silence this weekend was due to a trip home for my niece's Confirmation (congrats again, Erin!) My hubby usually plugs in his MP# player in the car and we listen to all kinds of things, but for part of this trip we popped in a Christmas gift from a friend:

I didn't read the classic Pooh stories as a child, so I'm experiencing them for the first time in this delightful reading by Peter Dennis. He does all the voices, and it's simply charming. We're indoctrinating Annie early : ) Anyway, all this rain made me think of poor Piglet and his flood story, and the image that comes to my mind is from the Disney movie version. Upon Googling "piglet in rain", one fantastic image that popped up is this:

How cute is that?!?

Even though this wasn't what I was looking for, I couldn't resist sharing it with you. The real image I was hunting down is:

This might be me some morning in the near future. Stay tuned.

I hope you're staying dry and enjoying your summer - send some sunshine our way!