Bouncing rain

At breakfast this morning we noticed the rain was coming down hard enough to bounce. Merely an hour and a half later, it had stopped and sucker holes were drifting overhead, nice and blue and beckoning. Out we went for a 5 1/2 block stroll, with lots of straightening, stretching and gentle side to side twisting for my mother's persnickety back, which has been giving her grief intermittently. We decided to keep at intentional posture improvement, since she knows she starts stooping without it. We saw our next door neighbor to the east, back from a walk with her 2 1/2 year old boy. He was wearing a classic yellow rain slicker, wiht froggy boots, and had a pail in which he was putting snails. He collects them seriously, like a little invertebratologist, and in the past has taken them over to the neighbors who have the chickens. The birds come a runnin', rounding the corner of the house in a full sprint, since he gives them the snails to eat; hand harvested free-range escargot - could it get any fancier?
Seattle Tilth had their Harvest Festival today, and I'd forgotten about it until I started walking to the QFC. I zipped right over to the Meridian Playfields and wandered around the organic farmers' stands, getting Yellow Finn potatoes, luscious carrots, three colors of string beans, cranberry shelling beans, and eying the piles of greens, squashes, onions, tomatoes, and other items. Beloved spouse and I collided outside the park, and he went back in for tomatoes while I went on to the supermarket. I'd forego that if I could walk to a farmers' market two blocks from my house once a week.
By late afternoon, the day was lovely and felt freshly scrubbed. Another little walk for Mother, a visit with a couple of friends/neighbors, and back home, where she and the beloved spouse watched a football game together.
A late night walk for us, then off to bed.