When it rains...

“Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.” ~Pepper Giardino

Wow. I knew I was moving to the rain forest, but never quite anticipated the amount of rain in the forest.

I know I promised you blogs of farming and things, but for the past 4 days all it has done is rain… so there isn’t much else I can think about.

And when I say rain, I mean RAIN.

I know rain, I get rain. Come on, I have lived in the Bay Area for the past 10 years, I understand rain. Or at least I thought I did, until I came here.

I am not quite sure how to explain how hard it rains here other than to say that it rains so hard that you can’t have a conversation with the person sitting next to you without a lot of shouting and a lot of “what did you say?” It is that loud.

My Mother (and I love her dearly) has, for as long as I can remember, asked me about the weather in every phone conversation we have had. After I tell her what the weather is like where I am (which has for the past 10 years has been San Francisco), she tells me about the weather in Pennsylvania (where she lives). It has become a custom in our conversations, so I anticipate it, and frankly if it wasn’t there I would miss it.

I once asked my sister Rachel if all of her conversations with our Mom included talk of weather, and she said no. While initially that puzzled me, Rach and I then discussed that because she lives in New York City, her weather patterns aren’t that different from where my Mother lives… where as I am (except for now) in San Francisco where the weather might be totally different… and according to my Mother, might warrant a discussion in every phone call. Plus, I don’t have children, so really, what else is there to discuss?

But to be honest, I don’t mind the weather discussions, and will take them every day of the week over bird facts.

So that brings us to today, when my Mother is here, in the rain forest, with me… experiencing the most unbelievable amount of rain you could ever imagine. Which, while might not be ideal for my Mother, has turned out really well for me… because in the future when she asks me about the weather in Costa Rica and I say “it is raining,” she will be one of the few people who “gets” it.

I has rained for 4 days, NON STOP. As my Mom said this morning “I now know what it is like to sleep under a waterfall.”

I just can’t describe it to all of you, it is so loud, and so much and so amazing and beautiful, and it makes the entire property glow. But after 4 straight days it is also suffocating and just over all wet. I don’t think I currently own anything dry here… wait… did I mention that where I currently live does not have any windows? That is right, just screens, and while there is an large roof over the house that prevents most of the rain from coming directly in… there is a constant “mist” and the downstairs has now “flooded” for the 3rd time in 2 weeks.

Over the weekend I am moving into my next “home” on the property, with windows and air-conditioning. In the background of my mind the Jefferson’s “Movin’ on Up” theme song is playing on repeat.