“Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”
Thunder boomed directly over the house this morning, and I swear the room shook. Gracie and I woke up, both of us a bit startled for the moment, but neither one of us had any trouble getting back to sleep. As I was drifting off, I could hear the thunder rumbling farther and farther away from us. I guess it stopped by just long enough to announce the rain.
Today has that quiet a rain shower seems to bring. It is still day, not even a leaf flutters. The room is dark, the way I like it on a rainy day.
When we were kids, Saturday was our day. It started with Saturday morning television and breakfast in front of the set, always cereal with lots of milk. We got to watch old friends like Howdy and Buffalo Bob and all those western heroes. I’m still partial to Annie Oakley though Sky King isn’t far behind her. The rest of the day was ours to do whatever we wanted. Sometimes it was the Saturday matinee while other times it was exploring on bikes or on foot. A rainy day, as long as it wasn’t pouring, was never a deterrent. I don’t ever remember my mother telling us to stay inside because of the rain. I suspect she was glad to get rid of us.
Walking through the field and the wet grass got us soaked. My sneakers and the cuffs on my dungarees were saturated and filthy, but I was a kid so I didn’t care, probably barely noticed. That would be my mother’s job. We’d roam the woods, sword fight with sticks, play at the swamp and watch the two horses in the pasture on Green Street. If it started to rain, we’d run for cover under trees heavy with leaves. One of the best sounds in the whole world is rain hitting the leaves overhead one drop at a time.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 8, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Except for PBS, all of today’s Saturday morning kid shows are nothing more than a 30 minute infomercial for some toy, movie or other product. Sky King, Andy Devine, The Cisco Kid, Howdy, and all the others had commercials but the shows themselves were pure fun and adventure for kids. My favorite was Sky King. I was always interested in flying and had prepubescent hots for Penny. In the early episodes Sky flew a Cessna T50 Bamboo Bomber. Later he was upgraded to a Cessna 310. Saturday was always the best day of the week as a kid.
May 8, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Bob,
Too bad Saturday isn’t fun anymore because it was, just as you said, the best day of the week for kids. We were glued to that set. I remember them all.
Last summer I bought a DVD of many of those programs. My friends and I sat outside and watched them on my laptop and just loved them. The Cisco Kid was one of the best we saw.
May 8, 2010 at 2:36 pm
My saturdays went on much the same, but never food in front of the tv and never sword fights since there was this kid in the neighbourhood that got his eye poked out. Mostly it was Indians and cowboys or sometimes we were explorers going through new and unknown trerritory.
Finally the wind has stopped and now a gentle rain is falling and has done so for several hours. No thunder yet in this area and I hope it will wait. I love thunder but it has this tendency to send the lightning through my telephone cord 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
May 8, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Christer,
We’d get up really early while my parents were still sleeping, put the cereal in the bowl, add milk and settle down in front of the TV. It was a ritual all through my childhood.
It poured later in the day-just as I got to the dump. I got soaked.
May 8, 2010 at 4:39 pm
My best sound is rain hitting a tin roof and we had one up north. Our porch was added to house and it was screened and had a heavy metal roof which made such pinging noises that I loved to sit out there when it rained. I love that sound.
May 8, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Z&Me,
Most of the houses in Ghana have tin roofs, and I loved that sound every rainy season, except in my classroom. It got so loud sometimes I couldn’t teach and had to put a writing lesson on the board.
Ghana had so many wonderful sounds, and that tin roof was my favorite.