Yagua Days

I read a very good book by this title once in the days of my youth. It is illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, one of the greatest of all children's book editors. It is about a Puerto Rican boy growing up in New York, where there is nothing to do on rainy days. But then, when he finally gets to go to Puerto Rico, he finds that there rainy days, Yagua days, are the best days of all. Today we had our own Yagua day of sorts, and a very interesting one it was too. First I spent the morning at the dentist, which always makes me think of torture chambers and interrogation and cyanide capsules, even though it never hurts too terribly much, I like to dramatize things. But anyway, the time at the dentist had ended, and back we hopped to the car, realizing in the process that a torrential downpour had just started. On our way back home, the rain in the streets was getting fairly high. On our way back through the neighborhood, the water was inches deep across the entire street and was running up in impressively high sheets on either side of the car. Well, my sister was enthralled, I started to get a little worried about the engine water-logging. Fortunately, before that could happen, the passenger side of the front seat started to take on water through the door. I could hear the SUV driver up ahead snickering, "Hey, I may have to spend 80 dollars on gas every week, but at least my car is prepared for these once-in-a-lifetime emergencies." After we plowed our way home we spent a bit of time bailing out the backyard, where the water was lapping around the back door. The little divits where the grass between two yards were flowing liberally with rain water making it's way down to the street. So after the rain had slowed to a stop, we played around some more, sloshing through the grass and the ginormous puddles. All in all, it was an exciting morning. And, in case you were worried, the house is as yet unflooded.

Cheers, ducks,
S.