Oregon Rain

We've had a lot of rain recently, though only enough to bring the Willamette Valley back to the average after a dry start to the year. Some of the garden plants have benefitted greatly, especially the grape vines, but sadly many of Beth transplanted seedlings have been munched by moisture-loving slugs and snails in the dead of night, despite several dozen such invertebrates having had a brief but exciting aerial view of the creek. Most of the rain falls overnight so it doesn't bother us in the least, and with so much space to enjoy and so many things to do within, we actually enjoy the cosy sound of rain pattering without.

Some of our trees demonstrate the benefit of all the rain and fresh air too, with many species of lichen coating their branches as living proof of how clean the air is here. In London if you left a white sheet out in the rain it would come back in with black spots of crud spattered all over, and commuting on the tube every day would cause black gunk to build up inside one's nostrils, to be snortled out in to a hanky or tissue when the resultant tickle grew unbearable.

With all this fresh air available, I cannot understand why some people need to buy air fresheners and electrically-powered room-scenting gadgets, with odours entitiled "Hawaiian Breeze" or "Moroccan Carnival". I've patented a fragance which I have dubbed "Oregon Rain", and which can be acquired at various windows and doors throughout our house at minimal cost. If you would like some, just mail me an empty jar, return postage prepaid, wrapped in a ten dollar bill.



In the wee small hours tomorrow I'll be driving Beth to Eugene Airport; she is flying to Washington DC for five days to attend her paternal Grandmother's funeral. It'll be the first time we've been apart for over a year, when I took a ten day cross-channel jaunt to Normandy to visit the museums and the sites of the Normandy landings, and eat some overpriced French sea snails (which gave me food poisoning).