After a busy morning, it turned into be a quiet afternoon. The flood water receded, but left thousands of residential house and business building out of power. In some area, the flood water poured into roads and damaged the basements.

I was driving to home when I heard the weather brief from radio. I knew exactly what it described. I saw with my own eyes how the flood water changed a small stream into a river! The scene was dramatically impressive and scary!

I am a good sleeper, in my memory, I have never been woken up by heavy rain, thunder, or other loud sounds at midnight during sleep. This morning when I opened my eyes, through the double-pane window I heard the sound from constant dripping water. It is raining!

 It didn’t rain for a while, the last rain should be a month ago. so I was happy about the rain. Furthermore, I don’t need to work today. In a raining day, no matter what I do, reading, writing , cleaning, or just running around in the house will make me feel especially good.

Standing on the deck, I listened the rain and appreciated my back yard. The rain was not heavy, not light, but medium, perfect in my eyes. To my surprise, a brook came into my sight. The water from rain formed a small brook in my back yard! I have never saw this in the past five years since I moved in. The green grass in the water looked vibrant and elegant. Observing the bubbles forming and disappearing among the grass in the crystal clear water was really a romantic and fun thing. I started wishing the brook would stay here all the time., then I would stand on my deck to appreciate the beauty of water everyday!

早晨起来听到外面的雨声，心中惊喜。有一段时间没下雨了，上一次落雨应该是一个月前。那之前的两三个星期下了几场有破坏性的豪雨。雷电狂风豪雨不仅造成大面积停电，还摧毁了很多大树，至今还有一些残枝断干伏于路边的林缘处。这些破坏比同时期发生在德国小镇，中国郑州的水灾完全不值得一提。

七点多立在阳台，一边听雨，一边看后院雨中的景象。令我吃惊的是，在我眼前不远处竟然出现了一条小溪。小溪最宽处快一米，溪水清且浅，黄绿色的小草立在水中，显得份外富有生机和活力。溪水缓缓流动，雨滴落在清透的水面上，形成消失，流畅自如，和谐美妙，那感觉就像看音乐家娴熟的手指，在钢琴上滑过。这一定是昨夜或今晨的雨水形成的，如果让我选择，我愿意这条小溪永远留在我的后院，这样我会天天立在阳台上欣赏水的美丽。

十点多见雨停了，我打算出去走走，顺便也去学校给儿子交秋季运动的费用。绿地公园上，在靠近健行道的地方，因为雨水而形成了一个不大的人造湖，湖周围聚了二三十只黑色的小鸟。这种小鸟都是群体活动的，我经常见到它们在草场上觅食，它们同落同飞，因为数量众多，总让我感觉震憾。小鸟在水上飞过，它们的身影映落在清亮如镜的水中，动静结合，实在是副美不胜收的图画。

然而再向前走，所见到的景象真是让我惊掉了下巴！山坡下的小溪从来都是隐在溪岸下的，此时八月岸边又长了枝叶丰茂的灌木，溪水就更加地隐蔽了。可是，可是我的眼前明明现出了一条水色浑黄的长河。那河水分明是失去了控制，漫出了河道，水和边缘离大马路也就3-4米远，水位与马路的势差最多不超过20CM。这样子让列想到了一个词----水漫金山。我顺着“黄河“向上游走，那个方向我见到两个镇公园的工作人员，其中一个在拍照。我问了他这是什么情况，他说这是因为今晨五点的短时间强降雨所致。这种情形他在这里生活了二十几年，这还是第一次见到。他说溪的上游水势更猛！

I drive by the hill everyday, at the bottom of the hill, there is a stream, in winter and early spring, the water is very low, people can’t find the stream until they stand on the stream shore. In other seasons, the water is abundant, but the stream shores are filled up with vibrant bushes and gorgeous wild flowers which forming into plant fences along the shores. so the stream is invisible unless you stand along the shores, the sound of flowing water will bring you to take a look at what is behind the fence.

But now, in front of my eyes, there was a big river, a river with yellow-brown water! The border of the river was only 3-4 meters away from main road! The bottom part of the hill in one side, along with part of lawn on another side were all under water, the bushes swaying in the middle of the water made me think about people who are asking for help in despair .

儿子的学校座落在一座高坡上，坡下有一条小溪流过，那条小溪和这边的小溪是同源的。在那里，我见到了湍急的黄水，从大石块缝里奔涌而下，水声涛涛的景象。这分明是个缩小版的洪水肆虐场景象。想想，这只是条小溪，下的雨不过是几小时，如果这雨下一夜，甚至是一天，那又是什么情景！

让我惊奇的是学校的大门上没有“入内需戴口罩“的提示，门也没有上锁，可以自由出入。我戴上口罩走了进去，往办公室走。走到办公室门口时，里面走出一位女教师，她没戴口罩。看来学校老师们是准备好与病毒共存了。再想想前两天去TRADER JOE’S 买东西时所见：原本收银台处的防护板全都拆除了，顾客和收银员直接面对面，收银员有戴口罩的，也有不戴口罩的，但顾客大都戴口罩。尽管当前因为DELTA 变异病毒，导致感染数字再度走高，但人们似乎已经准备好，要过基本正常的生活了。

继续听收音机，主持人采访一位曾经在阿富汗喀布尔生活过一段时间，出过两本有关阿富汗问题的书，同时也是NEW YORK TIMES 专栏作者。他说到了塔利班的SWEEPING VICTORY, 说到了阿政府军的CORRUPTION问题，说到了当前喀布尔只有机场和使领馆是安全的，人们要逃到机场基本上就有救了，但要到达机场又是相当困难的。一想到那一对年轻的兄弟，就无比难过，他们只比我儿子大一两岁，为了逃离阿富汗，竟然不惜用生命一搏，还有那许许多多对塔利班重新执政而心怀恐惧的人。这次拜登政府的作为真是让我们这些普通人都想不通：为什么不先把人撤了，再撤军呢？拜登民调，支持率暴跌，也在情理之中。年纪大了，还是在家养老的好。