It’s Darned Damp

It’s been raining since yesterday afternoon. Apparently a big cold front is on its way, so I should be glad it’s not snowing. Nonetheless, I’ve been wandering out in the rain looking at houses and such. 

Because I love you, my dear blog readers, I even went out to check what’s blooming and interesting in this soggy soil.

I was so overjoyed to look out behind my office house to see that the paperwhite narcissus (narcissus papyraceus) were blooming that I ran through a LOT of puddles to take a photo and pick a stem. Glad I am wearing my fabulous waterproof shoes.

They look pretty droopy, but they tell me that in a week or two it will be glorious back there. I hope my friend Martha likes them, since she’ll be living in this house soon!

On the way back in I saw this poor, damp baby snake. This is not a great time of year for snake birthing. Maybe it’s an adult of a small species. It was identified by iNaturalist as a rough earth snake; at least that was the closest one I found. I hope it makes it to a warm den.

I brought my little flowers inside so I could get a better look at them. The rain has rendered parts of the petals transparent. They still smell great, though, which always makes me think of the HUGE container of paperwhites my coworkers gave me when my first son was born in January 1991. You know it’s a strong memory when I can still smell something from almost 28 years ago!

I also found the water droplets reflecting on the light lovely, so I figured I’d share with all of you this joy brought to us by a rainy December day.