Ruth: It’s evening and we are tucked into our little house on the hill overlooking the hobbit shire of Santa Barbara. We booked Casa Emilia for six nights, because the forecast was not good. We were ready with tea and novels for a storm day but at the last minute the day’s forecast improved.  Taking advantage of a dry but blustery morning we went for a hike around the northern tip of the island. The sun was out more than it was not and, as usual, the weather on the ground was much better than predicted. 
By the afternoon my weather app warned that there was a 100% chance of major thunderstorms at 3:15 . After about five minutes of waiting for the rain to materialize Gord headed out for a second walk at 3:00. I told him it was madness to venture out into the hills just moments before the impending deluge, but he smiled and set off anyway. The swirling dark clouds threatened and the wind was howling but we never had a drop of rain. 
I’m nervous about actually putting it into writing, but I don’t believe the current forecast of ten consecutive days of rain will actually happen. Hopefully I have not put a challenge out to nature and the skies will suddenly  open up with days of torrential rain. Our experience in the Azores has been that the reality is almost always better than the forecast. I hope that continues as we inch towards November, one of the rainiest months of the year.