I’ve never seen so many umbrellas in my life.
That is what my oldest daughter posted on Facebook this morning. She is a freshman at a small Baptist liberal arts college in East Texas. Today was the first day of significant rainfall since she arrived. Everyone brought their umbrella to class.
Except her.
The reason she didn’t bring one is because she grew up in the Pacific Northwest. On Puget Sound, we knew how to spot the foreigner. It was the one who is carrying the umbrella. People in Western Washington do not avoid the rain–they plow through it.
She didn’t bring an umbrella because we don’t own any.
(Live Radar from The Weather Channel App)
Here in the Texas Hill Country there has been a drought for the past three years. Rain has been scarce, but today, oh boy, today it has rained like a typical November day back in Port Orchard. My youngest daughter was planning to go the high school football game tonight, but when I picked her up she doubted her friends would go because they cancelled everything–the band, the dance, the cheerleaders, the concessions, everything because of the rain. Rain.
I distinctly remember watching Belle march in a monsoon with the South Kitsap band. Yeah. Different culture indeed.
How do the people respond to the rain where you live/grew up/used to work and so forth and so forth?
10 responses to “THE UMBRELLA DILEMMA”
Well, I’ve never paid a great deal of attention to how folk respond to rain around here, but this post reminds me that some incorrigible ladies are rather uncouth in their umbrella habits:
http://youtu.be/_N5FeizGKI8
hahahahahaha! “Has my sister stolen your umbrella!” nice virgil. very nice.
as always, you brighten my day considerably.
That is so funny! I remember when I first moved up here I though it was crazy that no one owned an umbrella. And yter five years, I figure, what’s the point? With the downfall we have, there is no avoiding getting wet.
After** five years. 🙂
exactly. we moved there in summer of 1999 and a wise person told us to invest in gortex and shoes. umbrellas are pretty useless when the wind is blowing 45 mph!
People treat rain respectfully, but not familiarly. This is just an average rainfall area. Up here it is cold and snow. “oh, it’s 20 below. Let’s go out then.”
This blog is fun. I was raised in Texas, near Sweetwater and then up in Lubbock. Then we moved to other states. All my family live there now except my kids who are scattered around. Hope you enjoy it. God’s peace be on you.
my wife and I both grew up here, so it is a kind of homecoming for us. we did leave lots of great friends though in the northwest. I do not think I could handle 20 below . . . brrrrrr . . . you are truly a brave soul! I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend
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I remember Derek visiting me from California and running upstairs to grab his camera. Why do you need your camera? Look outside the gardeners are doing the lawn in the rain. Yes, Washington taught me lot. We don’t melt in rain.
[…] Cancelled school for rain […]