Rainy days. Sometimes, rainy days can make me feel melancholy and blue and lonely. Some times (like today), rainy days beckon me to feel cozy and long to curl up on my couch with a cup of tea and a good book. It has been a good minute since we've had a rainy day around here.....and today, the heavens opened up and spilled out rain all day long. It's just got me to thinking a lot about rain.
I certainly know that I can tell when rain is coming by the sharp and insistent increase in joint aches and pain....the older I get, the more accurate a meteorologist my joints become! The change in barometric pressure also tends to trigger headaches for me too. I should use this to my advantage and ditch nursing for the Meteorology trade! Or could I combine the two and become a Weather-Nurse? Hmmmm. It's a possibility! Aches and pains aside......rain plays a big part in our lives.
I love a slow and steady gentle rain...the kind my Grandma used to call a "soakin rain" because that's the kind of rain that soaks into the ground and makes the grass green and the garden grow. I don't much care for what she always called "a Toad Strangler," "a Gully Washer" because that was what she called a violent and sudden down-pour - usually accompanied by a thunderstorm.
While there is a certain some awe-inspiring majesty in a good riotous thunderstorm, first hand and very personal experience with an F4 tornado on Easter weekend in 1997 and brushes with Hurricanes Ike, Opal, Bonnie and Andrew have caused a certain amount of storm-anxiety for me. Mother Nature's violent side has a way of striking fear in your heart, for sure.
But I am thinking more about happy-rain today.....which brings to mind songs about happy rain. "Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head" and "I Love A Rainy Night" and "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" and "Purple Rain" "Listen To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain", "It's Raining, It's Pouring" , "It's Beginning To Rain", "Holy Spirit - Rain Down", "Showers of Blessings" "Pray for Rain", "Sometimes He Calms The Storm", "Riding the Storm Out" "I Bless The Rains Down In Africa," "I Can See Clearly Now, The Rain Is Gone", "Umbrella," "Rock You Like A Hurricane," "Smokey Mountain Rain" and of course, "Singing In The Rain, and (this one's a stretch...) "It's Raining Men!" Seems to me, there are a lot of folks happy and singing about rain!
But it wouldn't be fair to mention the happy rain songs without at least a nod to some of the sad rain songs. There's "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "Who'll Stop The Rain" and "Mandolin Rain" and "Here Comes The Rain Again" and "It's Raining Again," "Flood", "Here comes that Rainy Day Feelin" and "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone."
And then there are songs that I can't tell if they are happy-rain or sad-rain songs (maybe they are indifferent rain songs)......"Fire and Rain" or "It Never Rains in Southern California." "Blue Eyes Cryin In The Rain" (one of my late Grandpa's favorites). Anyway. Lots of other people thinking, singing about rain, it seems. I've never really thought about it before....but there sure are a lot of songs about rain!
Guess folks sing about rain, pray for rain, dance for rain, talk about rain, walk in the rain, and then look for rainbows.
There's a line in an old song that keeps coming to mind...."The same rain that grows the crops will drown the rat." Such a random sentence! (I tried to google the name of the song, but I couldn't find it and I don't remember who sang it). But it's true. I guess the "take away" is that all things really are good.....but dangerous if not in moderation; even rain.
Sometimes, rain does make me feel sad. I guess I equate it to Heaven crying and the raindrops are her tears? (Wow. That sounded a lot less cheesy in my head). And sometimes, I guess the gray drabness of cloudy, gloomy days on end can cause a bit of the blues to seep in around the edges.....just like rain-puddle water into your canvas shoes. I see raindrops rolling down the window panes....and they look like sad, sad tears. I hear the rain in the gutters and it sounds mournful. I get raindrop splatters on my pantyhose and it looks like a skin disorder. My hair gets wet and falls limp and flat and I just want to stay home and curl up all day on the couch with my puppy dog (who, for the record, doesn't even CARE if it's a bad-hair day) and a soft blanket and just BE for a while. Sometimes, the rain makes me feel wistful and sigh heavily. Sometimes, it just drizzles and makes me feel mellow.
In the summer, I love the way the rain smells. Especially if it's a really hot day and a cooling shower pops up to ease the heat a bit. I love to see the steam rising from the hot pavement. I love to splash in puddles! I like the way mud squishes between my toes and feels all cool and soothing! I love how the air seems cleaner after the rain washes the skies. I love how the flowers are perkier and how a few raindrops linger on the petals of the rose blossoms like shiny pearls. I love how raindrops look when they are caught in a spiders web - like sparkling diamonds on lace....I love how you can cry in the rain and no one can tell. I love to see rain clouds in the distance when you can see where the rain is falling. I like a good storm at night when we're at the beach. Lightning over the ocean is just breath-taking in beauty. I love the way that the sun colors the sky at sundown right after a storm and the sky turns all those firey shades of orange and gray before the sun disappears. I love the cool relief an unexpected summer storm can bring.
In the winter time, especially around the holidays....I don't mind a few cloudy, rainy cold days. I don't want rainy days on end......that tends to dampen my spirits. But a few rainy, overcast days here and there aren't too bad. Mostly because I live in the south and we rarely see snow for the holidays.....so the cloudy days I like to pretend snow is coming...it just seems more festive and "Christmassy" than the usual sunny, mild days. But I will have to admit that I'm not a big fan of rainy, cold, raw days in January and February because by then the novelty of winter has worn thin and I'm ready for those mild sunny days again!
Rainy days sometimes makes me feel "domestic"....I don't know how, but the rain somehow triggers an instinct to nest. To clean, bake and care for hearth and home. Today has been one of those kind of days. I've gotten the laundry done....and somehow, the sweet smell of the fabric softener and freshly washed sheets just makes me feel so happy! I'm baking some oven-roasted acorn squash right now.....basted with real butter and I've grated some fresh nutmeg and cinnamon over the squash. It is making the house smell absolutely heavenly!!! My husband is home and near by....and my puppy sleeps at my feet. All is well in my refuge from the rainy world- my own little nest; and that makes me very happy, indeed!...Rain or shine! :)
Okay. I promised that my blog would be full of self-indulgent rambling....and this surely proves that! haha! I was just thinking a lot about rain today. :)
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