Portland in the rain

[liveonearth]

It was lovely. It hasn't rained here much for a while, and people get kind of cranky when there's no rain. It's exactly the opposite of Arizona. While I was out walking, I came across a woman who was on her knees in the grass, pulling out dandelions one by one. She wasn't wearing a hat, and her hair was plastered on her forehead with drops rolling off. She smiled at me, and told me that she loves the rain, and that pulling dandelions was a good excuse to be out in it, alone, while her children were at school.

Then under the pedestrian railroad underpasses on each side of Powell, the homeless were setting up camp. When the rains start, it doesn't take long for the people to start showing up. One one side a man was cutting up a T-shirt to put on his large tan American pit bull, and another man was doing some kind of repair to his bike. On the other side two young men had just showed up and were gleefully stripping off their wet shells. Shelter of any kind from the rain can be glorious to those who have no other escape.

Comments

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a lot of rain.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

I camped a lot when I was in my early 20s, it was living in a tent or not going away, so no choice really. I camped on the north west of Scotland, mostly between September and March, outside of the tourist and bug seasons. It taught me how important it is to stay dry, being cold and wet is a miserable and dangerous experience. Eventually you get tired of listening to the rain on the tent and the BBC on the radio and reading a book and are driven out in to the weather. After a while any shelter is welcome. I knew a few places where the rocks formed a dry overhang, sometimes I'd go there and light a fire and sit and watch the world go by on the Sound of Sleat. Wood smoke and salt air are very evocative for me. Being properly warm and dry on a foul day is some kind of special treat.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Yep. Sounds familiar. I've lived out of a tent too. =-]

[quayme.livejournal.com]

Some of the best colors "pictures" I haved ever taken were on a wet days.