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After many weeks without rain, it finally arrived yesterday and is likely to return today.
Not a minute too soon, either. I saw an anguished post yesterday from someone in the village whose well has run dry.
Disquieting news.
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Just after dawn this morning, forbidding storm clouds moved in.
They had the appearance of bearing snow, but it is still too warm for that just now.
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The long range forecast for next week does include snowflakes, though here we seem to be living in a curious transitional area.
Over the past six years, violent weather has by-passed us by mere miles. But we’ll get whatever comes!
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Standing in the kitchen yesterday eating an experimental boiled egg, my eyes strayed to the window and down the hill, out in the now-empty corn field, I spotted a large dark shape.
“Is that a crow?” I asked, pointing.
“Haven’t got my glasses.” As usual!
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What he has got, stored in the now-defunct microwave, is a pair of binoculars and he advised that the shape was a lone turkey.
Five minutes later though, there suddenly came a whole flock such as we have never seen here before, some 30 birds.
They patrolled up and down the field, then marched sedately off.
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One wonders what we miss by not being in the window at the right moment!
This picture was taken in August 2020 when they used to come past the house every afternoon, which they have not done since 2021.
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This past July we got excited when we saw three birds out by the log pile but it was a one-off visit.
Apparently we did not pass muster:(
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We returned from Clifton Park on Tuesday by our new, slightly longer route, along the west bank of the Hudson River.
There was a loop I’d spotted that needed to be explored but of course, we couldn’t remember quite where it was and inevitably, having slowed down several times for the wrong turn, we shot past.
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But it’s a loop, so never mind, we’d just go round it the other way, which we promptly did.
“We did this before,” declared the man.
“No we didn’t!” I was certain.
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“We came the other way,” he insisted.
So I made him go to the end and turn around to come back for another look and I had to confess, bits of it did look familiar.
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There is a whole row of houses all along the river bank with decks for fishing or tying up a boat.
It seems a lovely location and just far enough up the bank to be safe in the event of flooding, I think.
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“Stop! Back up!”
The trouble is, I so often spot something interesting or attractive just as we pass it. Usually we can’t stop or go back, but when we can…occasionally I can persuade him.
“Go a bit further.”
“Not that far!”
It’s a wonder he doesn’t eject me.
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In a perfect world, I would live by a body of water.
Although I was only 8 at the time, I loved overlooking the Mekong River.
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This, in fact is the Tonle Sap that flows out of Tonle Lake, but the finger of land there separates it from the Mekong that we could easily see from our balcony.
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Where the rivers met, the opposite shore was very distant.
During the monsoons, the finger of land disappeared quickly and the sheer volume of water in the Mekong reversed the current of the Tonle Sap so that it flowed in the opposite direction, back into the lake.
Even then I was impressed by it.
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The comings and goings were fascinating.
Sometimes even ships came up this far. When my parents ordered goods from Hong Kong, I used to watch out for a ship bearing a Union Jack.
Sometimes though, I had to go to school and yes, I wore a sweater. Mornings could be “chilly”.
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Later on, I was at boarding school by the Gulf of Thailand and very, very many years after, I lived a block from a truly impressive body of water, the Atlantic Ocean.
Just once, I was obliged to evacuate because of a hurricane. It was an interesting exercise, deciding what was and wasn’t important, but Long Beach was barely affected by that storm.
It was Hurricane Sandy in 2012 that devastated the area, destroying 100,000 homes.
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When it came to purchasing property, waterfront was never among my options so I didn’t have to choose.
The large house I bought for my cat adventure was at the base of a steep slope and I was sufficiently cautious to have an engineer evaluate it.
Never-the-less it gave me cause to worry over the years, one way and another.
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Which did not inhibit me from purchasing my current property off the internet.
Grant often says uncomplimentary things about various aspects of it, but mostly it suits us well.
It was my greatest leap of faith!
I confess to always being amazed that you bought a house so far away just by seeing it online. I found this house in Beetley online, but we came to stay in a hotel for the weekend in Norfolk to view it (twice) then paid for a surveyor to make sure it was sound before submitting an offer,
I’m so glad it worked out for you.
Best wishes, Pete.
Those clouds look quite serious – I’m glad you got rain! Our summer rainfall has also started – hot and humid and something I haven’t gotten used to on this side of our country yet! The Hudson River is beautiful – I’m sure I haven’t seen it from this angle (or maybe I have … well, it’s still beautiful). The way you bought this house (online without seeing it) was a very brave thing to do! But as Pete said, I’m glad it worked out for you (and the cats)!