Raindrops on Anvilcloud

This summer has been hot and dry — extremely hot and dry — up until Saturday, that is. We decided to have coffee at the bay, and, as you can see in the above photo, the rain rolled in.

It soon rolled on past us, but caught us again later when we were at the library and the heavens opened yet again. We tried waiting the storm out, but since it showed no signs of abating, we decided to dash for the car, or at least I did. I pulled it up as close as possible for Cuppa, but she still got rather drenched.

The trip home from the library was amazing. The water was so deep on the road that I our CRV was spraying it up over the roof despite the fact I was driving slowly and carefully. The storm sewers were so full that water was actually spouting (yes spouting) out of them.

The rain passed, and the heat quickly reasserted itself, so much so that we couldn't face the bicycles today, not even in the supposed cool of the morning. We opted to stay in and do some more sorting and packing. Later, I decided to bbq some chicken for supper. No sooner did I get out there than a big black cloud began bearing down on me. Cuppa found me an umbrella, just in the nick as it turned out (see below — note the drops on the lens).

Actually, I rather enjoyed cooking in the rain. It reminded of a time in the tent. We were just testing a new tent in the backyard prior to a trip. I awoke in the night to a heavy rain. It absolutely exhilarated me, to the point where my heart seemed to beat in resonance.

I have been in the tent in the rain subsequent to that but have never experienced the same thrill, even two summers ago when we were camping in northwestern Ontario by Lake of the Woods. One night we heard the wind and rain chugging toward us like a freight train from across the lake. That was a petty great too, but what wasn't so great were the ensuing days of rain, way out there in the wilderness where there was little to do of an indoor nature — because there isn't much indoors up there — it's the great outdoors . Needless to say, we cut that camping trip a bit short and haven't camped again since then, and I'm not sure if we ever will camp again.

Oh, we'll probably still pitch the tent by the river when we're next at Riverwood, but that's hardly the same because we'll just sleep in it. The cottage will be nearby to offer us all of the necessary amenities — including that ever so vital internet access to which we have grown ever so accustomed.

The outdoors is great when the weather is amenable, but the modern comforts are called comforts for a reason.