Racing the rain

Its raining in the darkness outside and I woke to the same sound this morning. The chickens were most mournful and Frost was concerned about a coat in case he got very wet on his way from the bus. I should have known that the blue skies of mid-morning would not last (cloudless windswept blue) more than an hour when I decided to walk to the playground and library - a walk which takes at least half an hour each way.

It was just so blue and sunny that I was fooled. Later, when we were at the playground the wind suddenly changed and huge black clouds covered the far hills above the arboretum. I told Wren to get in quick because "the rain is coming back!" I dashed up the hill to the coffee shop and holed up there for the first downpour.

Here are some pictures from our walk. Unfortunately I missed the really scene-setting picture of myself returning home with my hair plastered across my face, my fleece and woolen gloves soaking and the library books wrapped in a towel under the stroller. Yeah, be prepared.

Walking in fall, Wren keeps asking me to stop so he can pick up leaves. As I push him this is what I see typically. For a while after each walk he asks me "where that leaves are?" as if I should be keeping track of them.

The playground we visited is not our regular one so Wren was excited to try out the slides. Here is is pretending to be a lizard coming out of a lizard hole. I dried the slide with the towel (which was later used to cover the books).

Here Wren does BIG JUMP (also caught in movie) from the teeter totter. Note, he is now wearing the bonds shirt Mum bought for Frost. I discovered a box of 3T clothing I had stored and Wren is now set for fall long sleeved shirts.

This is to show off Wren's new [thrift stored] sweater. Its made in Iceland and is pure wool. It was $5. I wish it came in size Women's M! The cool thing is that it has VERY long arms so Wren's hands are never cold as they are with regular size 3's.

On the way to the park we passed a garden full of dahlias and corn stalks. Wren stopped to smell the dahlias (they don't smell like much) and we were both impressed by the Big Dahlia. Wren wanted to take it home but I told him that the gardener was very proud of the Big Dahlia and would be sad if we took it. We took a picture instead. When I put it into iPhoto it suggested brightening the picture which is a bit underexposed. I like it this way. It is creepy, slightly malevolent. For the third year in a row I have planted dahlias but failed to get one bloom. I am giving up.

The BIG Dahlia

Time to smell the dahlias.

Today Wren coughed less but remained very chesty when he coughed. I think I will take him to the naturopath this week to see if we can help clear his chest. Last time he had a cough like this is lingered 3 weeks and then he developed pneumonia from a fever-illness on top of it. I don't like that path and would like to do more to help. I remember reading about a family in which both parents were hospital respiratory therapists. Their child had a severe pulmonary condition and survived against the odds because of their care. I thump Wren on the back in a misguided and hopeful imitation of "loosening phlegm" - I need some more guidance!