December in Oregon

 It is pouring outside. This shouldn't come as a surprise because western Oregon is a temperate rainforest, and that's what it's supposed to do this time of year. Oregonians complain about it, and generally warn people from other states to stay away.

 

"You'll be miserable from September through May," they warn the Californians who wonder about moving here.  In fact it can be very gray, and often wet after summer has passed.

We've caught up from 2012's drought of September and October. These days the streams are overflowing and the ground is soaked. I don't know how it absorbs as much water as it does each year.

 If you look for it though, the wet days bring out color everywhere. It's really not about being gray all the time.

 October's yellow leaves look like schools of fish.

 Ed and Reub fetch hundreds of balls on the muddy slopes near our house.

Moss grows all over, creating landscapes atop fence posts.

 The weak sun shows itself between showers, lighting the edges of even the tiniest mushrooms.

 Wild turkeys roam wherever there are oak trees. In this case it's our back yard.

I'm not originally from Oregon, but you can probably tell that I like it here. I love the long months of darkness and rain water, rainbows and moss. If there are days when I tire of it, well then, it is perhaps time for a nap.