Was it not I who was rhapsodizing about the rain only a week ago?!
Reader Dear, as we all know, April showers may lead to May flowers.
I'm here to add: August showers can lead to some august overflow!
The Yard Man and I, with Only Son and my Small Actor in tow (they were riding in the car with us, no trucks or cables involved) set out on a (most-recent) Saturday morning to drive to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (a relatively small town in the Poconos). We were headed for a cabin in the mountains where some of The Yard Man's extended family were enjoying time together. But before we headed up the country, The Yard Man headed the car downhill.
We gasped.
A small group of neighbors was gathered at the edge of an impromptu river running widely across the road! Where normally we see an open meadow and the road descending in a slow curve that takes us to our covered bridge, we now saw only swift-flowing water. (Much more water than we normally see when the creek floods!)
"You should have been here earlier!" the neighbors exclaimed. "The people staying in that little house by the creek had to be rescued with pontoon boats! Their car is completely under water!"
We had to ooh and aah a while, of course. But then we headed north.
Listener Dear, I'll let my Small Actor give his explanation. (He pleaded for the chance to do so, to be sole cameraman and narrator.)
"You're really going to make dessert for all of us?!" I asked him, the news being news to me.
"Yes!" he responded. "Yes, I'm going to make dessert for twenty-five people! But it's a surprise. I can't tell you what it will be."
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"What was it?!" Only Son and I asked. Whatever it was, we must not have spotted it. The Yard Man seemed pretty pumped.
"It was a geyser!" he said. "A little geyser is coming right up out of the pavement! I have NEVER seen anything like it before...it's right in the middle of the road!"
He had turned the car around and we drove slowly past the spot where the water was gushing up into the air. The geyser was only a few inches high, but it was impressive for its location, and the fact that none of us had ever seen this phenomenon before. We had to gush about it for a while, as we reversed our direction once again, drove slowly over the geyser a second time, and then continued on our way.************
Our next exciting event was arriving at the cabin, where we found two different species of family members relaxing (calm down, Dear Reader, I'm just talking about the hominoids and the canines, all of them part of the family).
Later there was a long-drawn-out lunch, as family members trickled in from various locations.
After a while, some of us set out for the winery.* It is a little distance to travel (I believe about a half-hour. There's so much talking going on; the time passes swiftly) but worth the trip. There's the wine-tasting and the wine more-than-tasting. There's the viewing of lovely fields full of sun-drenched grapevines!
*It's grown to be legendary, this winery. Some members of the family have been visiting more frequently than others; now, they (we) never leave the Poconos without a trip to the winery!
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After the winery, we spent time at the lake (there's a nearby lake). The sun was shining brightly right up until the carload that I was a part of pulled into the parking lot at the lake.
That was the cue, I believe, for the afternoon rain to begin.*
*I sang no praises.
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More to come...
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