“Magic is seeing the ‘extra’ in the ordinary.”
Yesterday, the rain started in the early afternoon and continued into the evening. It rained heavily at times, and I could hear the rain hitting the windows, but I wished for a tin roof like the one on my house in Ghana. During the rainy season, I used to sit and listen to the rain pounding the roof over my head. I love that memory. I love the sound of rain.
Henry wanted out early this morning. The air was still damp from the rain, and I could smell the ocean. I stayed on the deck a long time. Henry went inside without me.
I love the morning sounds of the first birds. Their singing starts just before the sunrise. At first light, the other birds join the chorus.
Every morning I get my newspapers from the driveway in front of my house. This time of year I stop and look at the garden. Yesterday I noticed the hollyhocks have begun blooming. The white with pink centers are in front, and the red hollyhocks are in the back. The flowers are eye-catching.
There have been extraordinary moments in my life. My memories of these moments delight me. Graduating from college is one of the first. No one in my family had ever gone to college. I always expected I would. Getting a special delivery letter on a Sunday from the Peace Corps announcing my acceptance still stands as one of my favorites. In Ecuador, I remember standing at the equator with one foot in each hemisphere. In Lapland, Finland, in the Arctic Circle, I remember the herd of reindeer running on the road followed by their Lapp herder. Watching my boat being pulled through the Panama Canal at night under a blaze of lights was amazing. The mules, really electric locomotives, pulled the ship through. Stepping out of the plane onto the steps at the airport in Accra, Ghana was almost overwhelming. I was in Africa. Being with my family and walking under the falls at Niagara is one of my first travel memories. I rode a camel in the Sahara Desert. We rode up Mount Washington. My father drove. I remember how cold it was at the summit. There are more, but these are enough for now.
My life has been a series of moments strung together to form a lifetime. Some have been momentous but most of them have been ordinary. I’m happy regardless.
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August 5, 2018 at 7:37 pm
Rain? Real rain? That wet stuff I vaguely remember? I’m jealous. I will never complain about rain again. (Just kidding, of course I will.)
We even skipped the free folk concert in the park today. Too sunny and hot and too much ozone in the air to bike for more than an hour one way and the railroad line is closed due to construction works.
Regarding special moments, a few days ago I saw a report about the Glacier Natl Park and it’s shrinking glaciers. I’m glad that I could see impressive glaciers in the Alps and North-America some decades ago.
August 5, 2018 at 8:04 pm
Birgit,
The rain was so heavy that it caused a dune to collapse on the beach. That, though, is the only rain we’ve had in a while. It has been hot and humid and that weather will continue this week.
I did go out onto the deck for a bit today. There was a breeze, but the air was too thick for it to do much good.
I haven’t seen the glaciers. I guess I’d better hurry.
August 5, 2018 at 8:48 pm
I never got to stand with one foot in the Northern Hemisphe and the other in the Southern Hemisphere. I wonder which way the water flows down the drain in sinks right on the equator. Toilets and drains flow counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the south due to coriolis force caused by the rotation of the earth. I have stood with one foot west of the prime meridian and the other in the east at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich England.
My big memories were my first solo flight in 1965, my first love who’s name I can’t remember. My wedding day and the birth of my two kids. These can’t compare with riding a camel or being in Africa but everyone has there own memorable times. 🙂
Tomorrow I take my airplane proficiency flight check preceded by a two hour oral examination. A jet airplane initial type rating course is like cramming a semester’s worth of college material into 12 days and I’m exhausted.
I won’t bore anyone with the weather in North Texas until it changes because everyone can guess what the day was like. 🙂
BTW Baseball may have changed in the last couple of hundred years but as long as it’s 90 feet between the bases, 60 feet 6 inches from the mound to the plate, three strikes and four balls. I still don’t want a clock of any kind in the game.
August 5, 2018 at 9:23 pm
Bob,
I also have stood at the prime meridian. It was a trip after Africa. I did check the water when I was in the Southern Hemisphere. I think it went in the opposite direction in the sink.
I believe as you said that each of us have our own memorable moments. Since I was eleven, I ached to travel so many of my moments were in foreign lands.
Wishing you great luck tomorrow, but I’m figuring you are well prepared. Let me know how you did.
We are in for hot, humid days for the next couple of days. We may get more rain on Wednesday.
I agree about not wanting a clock. It would totally change a game I love.