Starlight Above & Underfoot

Today is Will's Iron Mountain Day

Today’s weather brought a familiar mid-autumn chill to our bones. We took only one walk and that was in the rain. Samwise and Emily voted to spend the rest of the day in the hobbit hole dreaming of drier trails and forests splashed with sunlight. 

Dear friend,

A month ago, we received our first and only powerful rainstorm of the year. It lasted a mere 18 hours, but the rivers rose several feet, and the rolling waters echoed throughout the valley. Within days, everything returned to normal, but something magnificent had transpired.

After a meek winter, there was little snowmelt. Spring was dry, and that stretched into the beginning of summer. Our rivers were left thirsty and running low and in a gentle manner. Each time we crossed a stream, it was easygoing, and the slightest greenery began to grow on the rocks below the surface. With its clear and swirling current, our secluded swimming hole became a pool of the smallest plant life where I could feel a slight slipperiness underfoot.

But …