“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
Yesterday it rained all day, and the rain left today cloudy, damp and generally miserable. It’s chilly at 60° and the dampness makes it feel even colder. I’m wearing a sweatshirt and just closed the window I had opened earlier. No more flip-flops around the house-today it’s slippers.
The bear is gone. He was seen running around P-Town parking lots, and people were out trying to find him to take pictures so wildlife officials let it be known that they had chosen to relocate the bear so he could find himself a mate, and they wanted updates as to where he was. The bear was found, successfully tranquilized, tagged and taken to the western part of the state where we can all hope he is wooing some fair female black bear. Now we have another creature to watch. A Beluga whale, usually found in Arctic waters, has been spotted off Cape Cod. It is white which makes it an adult. The whale has been seen twice. P-Town is the summer vacation spot for right whales so maybe the Beluga read a brochure and decided to give the cape a try.
Rainy days make me want to be cozy reading a good book under an afghan. That started when I was a kid. I’d have to walk home from school in the rain, whether it was misty or torrential. I’d get soaked. My shoes got so wet that sometimes the water bubbled out the sides and my socks got so drenched I’d make footprints across the floor. My mother would grab my uniform skirt and hang it up to dry as I only had the one. That ugly western type tie we had to wear she wrapped in a towel to dry. The blouse went in the laundry. Even though it was afternoon, I’d put on my pajamas, the coziest clothes I had, as I knew I wouldn’t be going out to play and then I’d read away the afternoon. I think those were my favorite days. The darkness of my room lit only by the bed-lamp made me feel safe somehow, wrapped by my house as if it had arms. I’d be drawn into my book by familiar characters I had come to love like Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden. I never heard anyone in the rest of the house. It always seemed as if I were alone, never scared, just content.
I have one quick errand today then I’m going to change into cozy clothes, lie on the couch under an afghan and read. I can hardly wait!
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Nancy Drew, rainy day, reading
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
June 14, 2012 at 11:21 am
When I was young I used to climb into the large walk in closets at my grandmother’s house and read all afternoon too. Amazing how everything else disappeared when i jumped into a book! The weather here in the Ohio valley has been truly splendid the past two days mid seventies and sunny, with the windows open I can hear the whole neighborhood again. I found a folk station on our new cable tv and it was background music all day yesterday, amazing how that really changes your attitude and lifts your spirit to hum along. Hope Gracie enjoys your company as well, take care Kat! xoxoxxoox
June 14, 2012 at 2:37 pm
splendid,
The sun has just come out here at 2:30. Now everything can dry so I will be able to sit on the deck; of course, my book will come with me.
I love the music stations on my TV especially when I’m in the kitchen cooking.
Gracie always snuggles when I lie down and read!
Enjoy that sun!!
June 14, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Today is grey and damp here too but yesterday it poured down and thunder made a visit as well. I got caught outside walking so I and the dogs took coves in my neighbors stable for almost half an hour 🙂
I would do just that today, read a good book and wear cozy clothes. But I’m out of good books at the moment so I guess it will be some tv looking instead. I think I’ll make some cocoa today even if I had decided to make tea, nothing beats cocoa on a damp and grey day 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
June 14, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Christer,
We have sun right now, and I was just out on the deck, but the wooden chairs, the ones in the sun, are all still wet so I have to wait a bit before I go back outside.
Gracie is not a lover of rain unless it is misty. She have taken cover as well!
I am not a tea fan so cocoa on a damp, chilly day sounds perfect!
June 14, 2012 at 2:19 pm
Hi Kat,
It’s lovely up here. Sunny and about 70 F but the breeze is a bit cool. My kind of weather.
Too bad they had to move the bear. It would probably fare better on the Cape than it will in western MA. Young male bears don’t really do well during the bear hunting season unless they are very resourceful and very people-wary. The dumpster bear from Lawrence was shot in the first day of the season. I think they said he was 2 years old or thereabouts.
I can get lost in a good book no matter what the weather. Rainy weather is best because then there is no guilt. If it’s a day like today, I feel a bit of guilt because I am not outside walking the dog or doing yard stuff. Just a bit of guilt, though. Enough to add spice to my reading. 🙂
Enjoy your book and your afghan.
June 14, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Hi Caryn,
It is now 63° and finally sunny. The sky has cleared, and I can see some blue. The next few days are supposed to be beautiful, even in the 70’s.
The bear had run out of land which made people worry for him. He had already crossed the mid-cape a couple of times and people were afraid he’d get hit. This is just not the place for a bear, unless there were many who stuck to the woods. I see coyotes crossing the road a lot as well as foxes. It would have neat to see the bear.
I do hope he stays safe!!
June 14, 2012 at 5:35 pm
I just finished Drift by Rachel Maddow and wished she’d researched more on Vietnam, Tonkin Gulf debacle, some government secrets uncovered. But her focus was on our Nuclear program of 50 years now unreliable and costing the Gov/taxpayers a fortune. It’s an OK read but I expected much more. I fell for the hype. Not much on George W Bush either. I’ll have to look around for E J Dionne’s latest book. Maybe too much hype on that one too. Have you noticed the stream of books on the economy hitting the book stores?
June 14, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Z&Me,
I have noticed the books on economy and wasn’t surprised. Whatever impacts people becomes the subject of innumerable books. I think Vietnam is a prime example. The number of books about the war and the politics of the war were too almost too many to count.
June 14, 2012 at 6:00 pm
I always used to read when I was a kid, and of course I still do. I remember writing a letter to Carolyn Keene, the pen-name for the author of the Nancy Drew books, but she never answered my letter. I’m tired today and so is Jewels, so we are going to sleep and read and be on the internet.
I was reading a book about a homeless family and wouldn’t ya know Berkeley– that purrgressive town, is putting a sit-lie ordinance on the ballot in Nov. The city council meeting was so awful I cried.
I also remember lying on the couch eating pistachio nuts and reading. Summer I read at the beach. I was fortunate that my mom taught us a love of books at an early age.
Waving,
Lori and ????
June 14, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Hi Lori,
There have been so many ghost writers for Nancy Drew it would be beyond me to remember them all. I do think, though, that you should have received some sort of a reply, even a stock letter.
I’m thinking you need to stop attending city council meetings to preserve your sanity and your sensibilities.
NPR always does an episode of summer reading. I remember one comment that every summer a Nazi books seems to be on the reading list. Not this summer though!
My mother read to us all the time. That was when I forst found Treasure island as she read it to my brother and me.
June 14, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Rainy days are always the best time to spend reading a good book or two especially while wearing your most comfortable digs. I have fallen in love with my iPad and iBooks. I can carry around a library in one hand and read several books at the same time. The iBook software keeps track of my place in each book and I can highlight portions of text and make notes which are indexed and searchable. Also, I can look up the meaning of a word within the book and who knows what other tricks are imbedded in the software that I haven’t discovered. Isn’t technology wonderful as long as we don’t have a long power failure 🙂
Yesterday we had a tremendous hail storm in the late afternoon. Fortunately our electricity kept going. The chunks of ice were as big as baseballs in some places accompanied by torrential rains and high gusty wind. Today was hot (high 90s), dry and sunny. Hey summer in Texas what do you expect. If you don’t like Texas weather, just wait a while and it will change. This is according to Will Rogers.
June 15, 2012 at 10:08 am
Bob,
I have also been using my iPad of late. I got a gift certificate and have used it for books. I found my iPad also takes notes and can be highlighted. I found it out by mistake. You’re right about how wonderful tschnology is. I took my iPad to Africa last summer with about 6 books on it and will do the same this summer. I used to carry real books when I traveled.
It was Mark Twain who first made the comment, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes,” so I think Will was a Twain fan.
That hail sounds amazing. I don’t even remember any hail except tiny ones here. My sister in Colorado has had hail which ruined her roof.
June 15, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Kat,
I didn’t go to the city council meeting as I wasn’t feeling well enough. I streamed it on my computer. I would have found out anyway what was done, this is not that big a city and word flies fast. Sanity? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lqivrCIRGo&feature=player_embedded
June 15, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Lori,
Stop watching it! It’s like a horror movie obly real!