The Time Machine

Abstract

Rain defines the northwest. Sometimes it comes as a heavy drumming downpour, with a cadence almost Brazilian; sometimes it brings a rare rainbow. Usually it falls as a gray mist or as shrouded sheets billowing downward, coating North America’s Pacific Northwest coast with a dark sheen. Sunny days, of course, do occur, often enough to nourish plants and animals and the human spirit as well, and even snow may whiten the land on the occasional winter day, but these variations are spacers between the rainy periods. The rain is gentle, often warm, yet insistent; it is the true chronometer of this land.