A walk in the rain

I went for a long walk in the rain today through the streets of Pacific Grove.
I used to frequently go for a walk in the other neighborhoods I lived in, but the prospects of having an adventure, experiencing exotic sights, sounds, textures, and smells in your home country just don’t seem like they could stack up to a place where you are not used to.
Today, and the other times I’ve decided to walk around, proved this preconception to be wrong.
A house not too far away from my apartment has the same garish leg lamp that Ralphie’s dad in A Christmas Story fights with his mom over.
The recent storms that have knocked out power for thousands of homes in California has gone through the streets, leaving a path of destruction. One large wooden fence looked as if it had been karate chopped by the very hand of God. Much termite damage was exposed, as the strong winds wrenched the rotten cores of 4×4 posts from soil, loosened by the torrential downpour. Piles of broken tree branches and fallen trees were stacked aside the road.
Walking by these things, I was able to take in so much more for two reasons. Walking afforded me the time to focus on the details of the houses, things I would miss if I were in a car. I was also able to bypass roadblocks and other obstacles easily on foot.
One cool thing I happened across was this flower:

I don’t know what kind of flower it is, but it looked as if it didn’t mind the drizzle…