The weather forecast said, "Heavy rain".

It was raining enthusiastically yesterday morning. We went out to vote for our local councillors, and came home soaked. I dug out my umbrella. It didn't look good for the drive out to Chilliwack, on a highway subject to cross winds and in the throes of lane additions. My granddaughter arrived, bundled up in jacket and scarf and tuque; we had a bite of lunch and set out for the baby shower.

The sun was shining! I left the umbrella behind and put on sunglasses instead.

Chilliwack basked under a blue, blue sky. It was hot, even. The hooks at the door were heavy with discarded sweaters.

And the baby shower was fun, as all baby showers are.

A bag big enough (almost) for a rambunctious two-year-old.

Afterwards, I took the long way home, meandering through the rich farmland of the Fraser Valley. It's flood country; barely above the usual water level of the Vedder Canal, which tends to jump its dikes in the spring and fall. The Fraser, Sumas, and Chilliwack rivers, the outfall from Cultus Lake, up in the hills, and a maze of creeks and irrigation ditches help to keep everything green.

Pasture land, hazelnut trees, and Vedder Mountain in the background.

I lived out in this area for a while when I was a kid; we used to invent silly reasons for the name, Chilliwack. (A spanking in the winter?) I just found the root of it on Wikipedia;

The name Chilliwack comes from the Halkomelem word Tcil'Qe'uk, meaning "valley of many streams".

Contented cows.

I drove past fields of large cabbages, groves of hazelnut trees, a brilliant yellow square of rapeseed, grape vines, apple trees heavy with fruit. And corn; field after field of corn tall enough to block the view. I stopped to see how big the cobs were.

High mountains to the east, upstaged by corn well above my head.

Ears and tassels in the slanting afternoon sun.

A spider enjoys a taco at the edge of the field.

Looking west to Sumas Mountain. 5 o'clock shadows.

And not a cloud in that sky!  But it started to rain again, shortly after I got home. It's still pouring down, 6 hours later.

They say it's going to rain today, too. And maybe Monday. Our weather people have it easy.