Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Traveling, but not in a good way

"We're sliding," Dan woke me up in the dim predawn. Good thing he's just kidding, and that we live in the relative flats, because for a brief moment, I could almost feel us slipping. According to last night's news, all of Seattle that is prone to sliding is really prone right now. Thankfully that does not include us.

I have always had great respect for the power of falling water, and since we returned, nothing has been more obvious to me than how cranky everyone in the city is after enduring at least a month more of rain than we travelers have. We should perhaps stop telling people that while we traveled for three months, we only had two days of rain significant enough to keep us indoors (and that one of those storms--on All Souls' Day--was great fun) and were only caught out in the rain twice for less than fifteen minutes. (I actually racked up a third time: Tim and I walked home from Taco Chulo in Williamsburg in the raging gale of December 1 that lasted only about twenty minutes, but flipped a lot of umbrellas inside out. Our timing was perfect!)

It is strange to be back. For the first two weeks, we woke up not knowing where we were. Now, the rain is seeping into our bones, and we are back to being Seattleites, which means, growing gills and developing the thin skin of amphibians.

My neighbor, Richard, is bailing his garage. There is a man on the roof taking care of the blown-off shingles. And it is raining.

Today, I promise. Pictures. And then, since talk of the weather is dull and redundant, back to the really important things: cheese, travel, and knitting. Happy New Year!