timing
We've been having some weather here the past couple days. Despite that, I ventured out on my bike to make my first visit of the year to the Lexington farmers market. And I almost didn't make it! I was less than a half-mile away when the first drops started to fall—happily, right as I reached the only cover on the bike path between Bedford and Lexington. So still dry I hopped off my bike and sat down to wait out the storm.
When the lightning started I was glad I had done, and when the torrential, monsoon-like rain picked up I was more glad, and when it started hailing—hailing!—I was gladdest of all. Hail as big as peas, really! Some other folks didn't time the storm as well, but even the most soaked, with no more wet to get, were still glad of the shelter, and we had a convivial little gathering for a while.
After half an hour or so things calmed down, and I ventured out (getting instantly very wet indeed from the puddles, oh well). I was pleasantly surprised to find the market still standing, though damp and very puddly. After all that I didn't buy anything, for reasons discussed above, but I always like the scene in any case. It was worth a try.
I liked the scene so much, in fact, that I almost stayed too long: it was getting awful dark as I made my way home in some haste. I still had it, though, and the next downpour held off until five minutes after I got home.
So local were these little storms that the first one, that inundated Lexington and was so fierce people were pulling their cars to the side of the road rather than trying to drive in it, dropped barely a drop on Bedford. We would have been set if things had gone otherwise, though, because I called Leah to tell her about the hail and she did an awesome job putting up a tarp over the poor delicate tomatoes. Just in case, right? I hope the next rain we get is more general as well as more gentle.