18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, January 31, 1914: This day presented a swelled appearance. First it rained and then rained some more until at last all these little streamlets around here just had to spread out and get big.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Brrr. . . it sounds like a cold, wet, miserable rain. Did it rain enough to cause some minor flooding?
I hope that Grandma had a good raincoat. I bet she wished that she had a stylish raincoat—like a Kenyon.
We are finally getting rain in California, so nice to see an entry about rain from your Grandma.
You sure can use a bunch of it.
http://jarphys.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/drought-2014-ca-and-nv-satellite-views/
Sounds like a day for rubber boots or what we call gumboots.
Talk about a truthful ad – ‘supposed to be’, ‘ought not’, ‘should not’ – very quaint.
It’s rare that you hear someone refer to the streams as “swelling” with rain, although I have heard it a time or two.
We have “seasonal streams” on our mountain property. During Spring thraw and summer thumder storms, these “swell”. I know what she meant. I’d been looking at muck-boots more than a rain coat in such conditions.
Oscar
I like how you can show any reliable dealer the picture and get the coat for $15 – the beginnings of coupons?
I love your grandmother’s playful use of language. And I even like the raincoat in the add.
That’s cool, it looks like an early trench. A girls best friend!
They must have gotten a good bit of rain from the sound of it.
Rainy days in January feel especially raw – today we’re getting some rain after it snowed overnight – brrr…