surfin' in the rain

It was Thursday morning
when Mark returned home directly after leaving for work.

"I made it to the end of the street, but from there it's just not passable."

Incredible. 
I knew it was raining hard,
too poundingly hard on our roof to hear one another speak without raising voices,
but this I've got to see.

So I went out to explore, 

and below is what greeted my eyes...

Yep.  It was pretty wet out there.  Water up to the curb.

A few trikes and taxis were still forging their way through, 
but progress was pretty slow.

I couldn't walk  far without being underwater.

Up ahead I spotted movement in the water.  
This toad swam across the road and hopped up onto the pavement on the other side!  
I wonder if he's the one I saw in the cat food dish at our house the other day?

Not everyone was deterred by the rain. 
A friend said she saw someone in up to their knees.

Mark finally rolled up his pant legs 
and packed a towel and office shoes in a bag so he could get into work.

And yes, there really and truly were guys surfing on our street in the rain.

I'm sorry I didn't get a better action shot, but here they are waiting for a wave to break.  
Or maybe they were just laughing at the crazy woman down the street 
standing out in this rain with a camera.

Michael had no surf board, so he did the next best thing.

And as if the heavens hadn't blessed us with enough water for one day,
Michael had a friend over for some water balloon wars.

The poor cat. 
She was traumatized by all the day's water. 

We are thankful to live on pretty high ground. 

Not everyone has it so good. 
That street water sludge floods the homes
of more than one friend in the area when it gets so deep.

**********************
Thy fate is the common fate of all; Into each life some rain must fall.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. 

Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.
Gilbert K. Chesterton