Who’ll Stop the Rain

Tired of the constant rain the last few weeks, I headed east of the mountains to Wenas near Naches for three days last week. Unfortunately I found out that this year, at least, it’s nearly mpossible to escape the rain in Washington or Oregon. The three days I stayed in Wenas were probably the wettest days I’ve ever camped in. My Gore-Tex boots sprung a leak, my expensive Gore-Tex gaiters leaked, every pair of socks I brought with me were soaked, and those I’d worn the first day didn’t dry out after two days in the car.

I did manage to see and photograph a number of birds I’ve never seen before, but it was so cloudy and so dark that most of the photographs are marginal, at best. In fact, the best pictures of the trip were those of flowers, like this beautiful wild Iris,

Wild Iris

this Lupine,

Lupine

and these gold flowers that I’ve only seen in Colorado before this weekend.

Gold Flower

Ironically, most of what little sunshine I saw was coming home and driving up the west side of Mt Rainier.

As I followed the river home, I stopped several times to bathe in the pools of light created by the rains higher up on the mountain.

Rushing Streamwater

Luckily, beauty always seems to find a way to shine through.

3 thoughts on “Who’ll Stop the Rain”

  1. WOW. That wild iris leaps off the page the way it does when you cross a ridge on TISQUAQ and look up to see it waving at you. Well done.
    I’ve had some luck replanting those in our yard to help me think of pure places above the fray.

  2. It shines through if you see it and photograph it!! The iris is exquisite and the water is astonishing!

  3. Thank you for finding the beauty in the iris, in the yellow flowers and in the river.

    I’m surprised at the steady overcast these last few weeks. Usually there are more sunny breaks in May, although June is often cloudy for graduations and weddings and even 4th of July can be a rainy day around here.

    Georgia O’Keeffe, living in New Mexico with brilliant sunshine, used to paint the walls inside her house a grey that is like the sky we’ve seen so much this spring. She did that because the colors in her paintings were so much more intense on a grey background. She didn’t choose to live in an overcast landscape but my guess is that she would have been dazzled by your photos in the rainy overcast spring in Eastern Washington.

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