Rain...

It's raining. I've always liked the rain. I love to listen to the sound it makes on the windows, or the roof, or the street. I like to hear it drip from the tree leaves or pour down the gutter pipes from the corner of the house. There's a personality about rain that nothing else in Nature has to offer. I can't describe it, it's just...there.

I like to walk in a warm rain and slosh through the puddles. Alone, I feel the solitude of it. When with my husband, it feels romantic. (He, being born and bred in the Northwest is used to the rain, and likes it too. He even claims to have webbed feet!)

Rain can cause a multitude of moods, I think. I don't know whether you can call them 'melancholy', but when I was an ultra-sensitive teenager, rain was the prompter of many written words...mostly sad words. I wonder if rain moves artists to paint or composers to write music? These days I don't feel sadness when the clouds send moisture, I feel a coziness, as if I'm shrouded in a soft comforter.

We certainly need this rain. The red clay of earth is thirsty, and hopefully this steady, light rainfall will continue until the deep crevices in the ground can heal. The new plants that are signaling the coming of Spring are looking parched. This watering will quench their immediate desire for moisture without having to drag out the garden hoses.

More times than not in this area, we get heavy downpours which may add to the reservoirs, but do very little for the gardens. Those rains just roll off the surface of the ground and into the drainage ditches or storm drains. At times like that, Mike and I like to go outside and watch the water rushing over the big stones we placed between the high and low areas in the ditch. It's like watching a rushing stream with little waterfalls. It makes it's own songs as the water flows.

We've much to do in the outside, and though the rain doesn't dampen my spirits, today will be used for inside things. The tax preparation awaits. (That does wreak havoc with my thoughts!)