Before the Rain

It was another very early start for the dog and me this morning. The day was mainly grey but relatively warm. Hoping to tempt fate, I carried an umbrella.
We met up with a friends including Erin with our former dog Gypsy. She came bounding up to us all excited and pleased to see us. I once again felt sad when looking back at her and Erin I saw she was straining on her lead trying to come back to us. But I know she is living a very happy life with Erin.
I captured some images with the zoom lens on my Lumix compact camera. Looking across the Taylor River and nearby vineyards, I was able to zoom in on the distant Richmond Range. I rather like the way the fluffy clouds were creeping over the tops of the Range. The mountain peeping above the clouds is Mt Fishtail.
Only minutes after I captured this image the rain started to fall in earnest and the umbrella was a godsend. We have had over 20 mm of rain in Blenheim which is a lot for one day, particularly in the summer. Of course we could do with a lot more so fingers crossed the weather gods will be kind and send us some more in order to avoid drought conditions.