Soaring Eagle Wetland: Boardwalk, Before Rain

I mentioned a week or so ago that my car, a Chevy Sonic, threw a code that meant something was wrong. We took it to our mechanic, who diagnosed it: a part was needed, a solenoid of some type. So my husband ordered it online; the next morning, the part arrived, and we scheduled an appointment with the mechanic for the repair to take place today.

Rain was finally happening, after weeks of no rain at all. I wasn't sure I was going along if it was going to give downpours: when he takes one of our cars to the mechanic, my husband usually drops me off at nearby Soaring Eagle Wetland. But it seemed like it got the rain out of its system, at least for a bit, and I did decide to go along.

My husband dropped me off at the railroad tracks. I crossed them, and headed down to Bald Eagle Creek for a look at the water. I was standing on the accessible fishing pier when I started seeing some raindrops on the water surface, as I was taking pictures and videos. And then I heard it coming, roaring like a freight train: a storm was heading right toward me! I whipped out my umbrella as the downpour hit, about 15 minutes after my arrival.

I had planned to walk down along the creek but I thought better of that, given the weather. Instead, I walked back up the boardwalk and back to the parking lot, and from there, I headed to a small pavilion, where I could sit protected from the rain.

The pavilion wasn't very big, and the bench in it was wet, so I wiped it off with some tissues I had in my daysack. I put down a groundsheet and a sitting pad, put my daysack and my waistpack and my camera nearby, opened my umbrella and set it beside me so it could dry out a bit. (There was a large, bonus bee nest of some sort hanging from the eaves, just to make things even more interesting.)

And that is where I spent a lovely half-hour, as my husband handled the car repair, and finally, came over to meet me at the pavilion. My car had been fixed and was good to go now; we sat on the bench and simply enjoyed the day. 

As we walked back over to the mechanic's to get my car, my husband asked if I'd like to go back down to the creek, but I didn't; I'd had enough. We hopped in the car and took off for home. As he pulled the car into the garage, the rain started up again. Good timing, all around!

There's a set of 10 items on the Instagram set I'm linking to:
1 - this shot, featuring the boardwalk and the yellow tansy down front
2 - New York ironweed, and the clouds forming to make the storm
3 - an additional section of the accessible boardwalk they just finished
4 - boardwalk, wooden duck blind upper left, bench upper right
5 - rain, as viewed from the accessible fishing pier, with one floating leaf!
6 - slick boardwalk and bench, after the rain
7 - adorable little wooden duck blind that you can see in a few of my shots, including this one on Blipfoto!
8 - rain on New England aster
9 - the little pavilion and bench where I sat
10 - short video of rain, same view as item 5

I need a song, and I searched my tunes collection for "wet." I laughed when it brought me up all of the ASIA songs, with John Wetton. Yes, that'll do, I think! I have loved John Wetton's soaring vocals from the first time I heard ASIA. They hit the ground running in 1982 with Heat of the Moment, and my life was never the same. 

I had the good fortune to see ASIA live at the State Theatre in September of 2014. When I saw them, it was John Wetton on vocals, Geoff Downes, of Yes, on keyboards, and guitarist Sam Coulson, instead of Steve Howe. John Wetton passed in January of 2017. I treasure these memories, and these songs. I can't pick just one, so here are Heat of the Moment, Only Time Will Tell, and a rare acoustic version of Heat of the Moment. (A live video of the acoustic performance can be found here.) Enjoy every moment! Even the wet ones, LOL!!! :-)