Rain Rain Go Away

Officially I'm tired of the rain.

I can put my "it's better here than anywhere" spin on it. I can remember that the rain is what makes everything so lush. I can thrill to the fleeting moments of sunlight -- magical really -- when the clouds are quickly lifting from the mountains, the blue sky appears and the sunlight bathes all in an unbelievable golden light. I can sprint out the door to take advantage of the intermittent clear spells.

But I'd rather it would just stop for awhile. I want to enjoy the fall. I want that luxurious feeling that day after day will spread leisurely before you, waiting to be filled with perfect photographable fall fantasies. Apple picking. Pumpkin patches. Slow simmered stews filled with the last of summer vegetables. Hot chocolate and cookies after a long hike through the woods, crunchy leaves underfoot and that undescribably musty but good smell of decay seeping into your pores.

My fantasy fall is not filled with rain. But this is life, real life, and it moves on. The house progresses slowly. All the siding is up, waiting for dry days to be stained. The electric and plumbing are all set in place. The heat/solar guys were there yesterday preparing the house for the solar hot water system. The panels will go smack on the front of the roof for easy admiring (and of course optimal theoretical sun, facing due south as they do). I oggled the copper piping and brand new electrical wiring -- a giant step forward from the mishmash of plumbing and the fraying knob and tube wiring in our Pasadena house. The rain basins and fire pit are bricked in and about 1/3 of the stucco went up yesterday. The back yard looks like a giant mud puddle. Maybe we'll give up on the yard and just have a big back pond.

Moments of fantasy sustain us. The photos above are from last Sunday's hike -- 3+ miles uphill to this vista, not captured on camera, that makes you giggle at the leaf peepers oohing and ahhing over to the Parkway views (not too shabby themselves, but nothing like the 180 degrees of trees heightened by the little thrill of walking along rock face that falls off to the unknown). And Thursday night the clouds lifted just long enough to take in the time trial for the Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race (check this link for some great video of the trails we face out here! http://www.blueridgeadventures.net/stage/main.html) Dexter "won" the kids' race (though as Bella says, everyone was a winner) and they both got their t-shirts signed by Jeremiah Bishop and other big names, all unknown to me, of the mountain biking world.

But still, I want the rain to stop. And no, turning to snow is not good enough!