“This morning’s scene is good and fine, Long rain has not harmed the land.”
I never did get around to changing my bed, a nap got in the way. I guess I’ll have to do it today to complete my list. The only problem is I haven’t the energy and I certainly don’t have the enthusiasm. Bed changing doesn’t engender any.
The rain stopped for a bit yesterday afternoon so Gracie and I left for the dump. When we were about half-way there, the rain started again just as I suspected it would. That always happens. It rained all the rest of the day and all night. It is still raining, and there is a wind strong enough to sway the tops of all the trees. The weather forecast in the paper this morning said rain for the next three or four days.
On rainy days my first grade cloakroom was always dark. The walls were made of wood, and there wasn’t any light. When I’d walk into my classroom, all the lights seemed as bright as the sun. The only noise in the classroom was the rain beating against the windows. We spoke only in whispers. I can’t explain why, but it was as if the rain had muted our voices. I was always drawn to the rain on the windows. I’d follow a drop all the way down until it got smaller and smaller and finally disappeared. The nun and my classmates were background murmurings to the rain. That was the year I watched the rain.
My fourth grade classroom was on the second floor. The long windows looked out only to the sky. I was in the last seat in the first row. I had a panoramic view of the whole room but couldn’t see the windows behind me. That was the year I heard the rain.
In the eight grade, my classroom was on the second floor of the new school. My seat was right beside the windows. I could see the whole school yard and the road beside it. I could hear even the smallest drops of rain hit the windows. I could look out and see the rain falling sideways in sheets blown by the wind. Other times the rain fell straight down in a thunderous deluge. The misty rain fell gently, quietly. That was the year I could see and hear the rain.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: changing the bed, cloakroom, drops of rain, rain and wind, rainy day, school classroom lights
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October 2, 2015 at 2:32 pm
Strong winds here too but sunny and warm, almost summer warm and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.No rain is predicted until next Thursday and that’s ok with me.
The first three years I had my class room just beneath the roof ob´n the third floor. There were no windows in the cloakroom so the light was always turned on up there. I had the window behind me but can’t remember much more than that.
The three coming years I had my classroom on the second floor and sat beside the window most of the time and since this is Sweden I saw a lot of rain on those windows 🙂 I could also see big parts of the school yard and the surrounding neighborhood, I had a tendency to look out through the window more than following what happened in the class room 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
October 2, 2015 at 6:18 pm
Christer,
We still have the rain and the winds. At least the hurricane will go out to sea and not ht us.
Looking out the window helped me think. I always need a focus to get my mind in gear and the window served that purpose well.
My 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades were in the new school where each classroom had a bank of windows. The front rooms got more light than the back. I only had a back room in the 7th grade.
Glad to hear you’re finally feeling better.
October 2, 2015 at 3:28 pm
Hi Kat,
My classrooms all had big windows. In grade school the windows were huge old ones with hooked poles to pull them up and down and sills that were like wide, deep shelves. There were three or four of these monster windows in each room. Every one had potted geraniums on all the sills. I don’t know why. To this day I associate red geraniums with my grade school windowsills.
I was deprived of windows when I went to work for the IRS. The new wings were built without any windows. I recall a casual conversation during which I ( a mere peon) told the branch chief of a study that showed the presence of windows increased worker production. She snapped back that it just gave us somewhere else to look besides our work. The division chief was standing there at the time but made no comment. Six months later huge concrete cutting, water-cooled saws were slicing openings for lots of windows in both the new wings. Coincidence? Probably. GSA takes longer than that to get anything done. But I like to think it wasn’t. 😀
Summer is over chez moi. It was 59ºF in the house when I woke up this morning. I pulled the AC unit inside, closed all the windows and turned the heat on for one cycle.
It was cold, damp and dreary outside. Even the dogs didn’t want to stay out for too long this morning. The house was nicely warmed when we returned. It has remained damp and dreary outside and has been raining for several hours. Not much wind, though.
Enjoy the day and stay cozy.
October 2, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Hi Caryn,
We had the same types of windows in grade school. I remember the hook being used to move the windows up and down, usually by the boys when I was older, by the nuns when I was younger. No geraniums-nothing I can remember on the sills.
I’m thinking you sparked the addition of windows. Worker productivity is a huge issue in some government divisions. I know the post office had sloths who sorted half the mail that I, a temp, could sort.
My house too was cold but not that cold, but I also turned on the heat for one cycle. Right now it is 67˚ in here. It is still rainy and windy. They’re predicting rain for four or more days and temps in the 50’s. Yup, summer is gone but it left gloriously.
Keep warm and comfy!!
October 3, 2015 at 2:58 pm
In Government the mantra has always been “Meet the Production Standard, don’t beat the Production Standard.” 🙂
October 3, 2015 at 4:39 pm
I learned that quickly that first summer I worked in the PO.
October 2, 2015 at 7:50 pm
Hi Kat,
I have been in Miami all week and have been extremely busy. Here there was talk of the Hurricane that probably brought you the rain. I’m staying near the Miami airport and I think I have been transported to South or Central America. Here it’s almost Spanish first. Miami is the gateway to Latin America. I’m going home tomorrow and hopefully leaving the humidity behind.
October 2, 2015 at 8:12 pm
Hi Bob,
I think the hurricane went out to sea before it got close to us. The rain came first.
Last night was damp cold, and I had to keep all the windows closed. It went down to the 50’s and will stay that way for the next few days and nights. What a difference from the high 70’s of the other day.
October 3, 2015 at 12:13 pm
I may be the exception to the rule … I love hurricane weather. Even H. Katrina, which caused my move from New Orleans to Memphis. I sat in my car in the middle of a 200-acre field outside Baton Rouge listening to the radio. The rear of the car faced into the wind. Every now and then a gust came along that lifted the rear wheels off the ground, and I was certain I’d go ass-over-elbow across the field, but it never happened. Yay.
My second-grade classroom is the first of which I have distinct memory. The windows were huge multi-paneled framed structures with wonderful shades that were attached to the windowframe bottom rather than the top. They were pulled UP, not down. This was a wonder to me – I’d only seen shades that were pulled down before this. The logic of pulling them up, however, made sense to me. Even tho’ I was a stranger to the word ‘clerestory’ at the time, that’s the type of lighting that was provided when the shades were pulled up. Later in life, I was in a hardware store just browsing when I discovered the small pulleys of the type needed to make shades of the ‘pull-up’ variety. I bought at least a dozen, but never had reason to install them. Why? ‘Cuz the house I was in at the time had no shades. All these years later, I still have those pulleys. Where? I don’t know – but I have them.
October 3, 2015 at 12:19 pm
Richard,
I too love to watch a hurricane. When the winds aren’t too bad and I’m not risking life and limb, I go down to the beach to watch the water, the tremendous waves rise and crash the rocks. I also keep an eye on my pine trees as they have shallow roots and are the first to go in the wind. One year my blue spruce, the first Christmas tree I had, went down. I was heart broken.
I haven’t ever seen shades which go up. I was a stranger to the word clerestory today!!