… and stormy morning, stormy weekend and stormy all next week. The old saying, April showers bring May flowers, comes to mind. So what do May flowers bring? (see asterisked answer below) Chris’s camera contribution, Storm over Monterey, epitomizes this theme, look for it below. One could even make the case that it is the origin of this theme, since the storm photographed there Wednesday, is the one here Friday. All of the rain that we have had and the rain yet to come, will serve as excuse to my contractor, for why no work has yet been done to repair the house, from another, earlier, dark and stormy night.

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents–except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest uses the phrase, “It was a dark and stormy night”, as a signifier of purple prose. This contest was formed to “celebrate” the worst extremes in this style. The contest is sponsored by the English Department of San Jose State University and recognizes the worst examples of “dark and stormy night” writing. Its website claims that the WWW in its URL stands for Wretched Writers Welcome. Is this a writing contest that I could win?

All this rain has to go somewhere, so into the creeks and rivers it flows. The creeks do rise and then also the rivers and we have flooding. A month ago, I took the above picture of the Mississippi, flowing under the Eads Bridge. The Missouri River is already in flood all across the state. The Mississippi is so far, not so bad off. One can only imagine what the coming week of rain will do to all the river levels. So if the creeks don’t rise (too much) and the Good Lord willing, maybe Anne and I will get some bike riding in this weekend. 

* Pilgrims 😆