Horizontal rain

I'm not surprised. This week at Wrightville Beach has been on the calendar as long as Tal and I have known about Megan Woodruff's wedding. It will be my honor to assist with the liturgy come this Saturday morning. We have anticipated eagerly through the past several months spending a few quiet days here, here being the apartment at the Carolina Yacht Club on Wrightsville Beach. Our arrival, and our drive from Edgefield yesterday, coincided with Ida's landfall on the Gulf Coast Monday and its inland path across the southern states to the Atlantic. Now, it seems stalled, the announcers on The Weather Channel even naming Wrightsville Beach, exclaiming over the inches of rain we are seeing.

While I'm not surprised, I am quietly delighted. The rain is mostly steady, at times swirling, but mostly horizontal. At the moment the tide is in and the waves have drawn surfers. Even apartment-bound we are not in the least bored or restless, the mingling sounds of surf and rain calming and inviting us into our books.

I've been out only once, keeping the camera dry competing with any hope of interesting photography. As I prepare to post this, the surfers are in retreat, the photograph below taken through the fogged window of the apartment.