Sunday, November 18, 2012

Camping in the rain, and mushrooms on the path



Last night it rained considerably and I listened at various times throughout the night as the rain came pouring down in torrents.   I woke up on two or three occasions wondering if my tent was going to get flooded.  Water puddles formed on the floor of the tent.

I heard drips coming down in various places.


However, I miraculously weathered the whole night without getting the slightest bit wet, and the hard rain coming down off and on throughout the night actually lulled me into a deep and restful sleep.

Late morning the sun came out and I opened up the tent as much as I could to let it dry.  



In California near San Jose, it rains so rarely.  It is officially desert area--dry, and sunny 254 days of the year.  In Iowa where I grew up, it could rain for the better part of a week come April and May.  And we had more than one word for it:  it's sprinkling, its misting, it's drizzling, it's spitting, it's hailing, it's pouring, it's raining cats and dogs.  Sometimes we'd get a steady downpour that lasted all day long.  Other times we'd get scattered and occasional showers--scattered across the state, with brief bouts of rain throughout the day.

So last night with the intermittent downpours and drizzles, and lulls, it felt like Iowa in California.  And I found out the rain made the walking path at the campground wet and the mushrooms on the log that I saw last week, double in number.  As I learned at a mushroom festival I attended once in Santa Cruz, there are hundreds of variety of fungi, and their shapes can be beautiful, funny, and entertaining.