“The dearest events are summer-rain.”
The morning is cloudy. Despite the wind advisory, there is no wind. It is 41°, about the usual most days now. Rain is predicted for tonight into tomorrow.
On rainy days when I was a kid, my classroom was dark, despite the lights. I found the darkness comforting in an odd way. I could hear rain drops hitting the windows and the shuffling of papers and books as we moved from lesson to lesson. Sometimes the rain was louder than the nun so we read quietly. Our literature books were thick with stories. Questions were at the ends of each story. They kept us quiet and busy. We left our desks to go downstairs to the bathrooms, and at lunch we could move around the room, but we always missed the freedom of recess.
Summer rain has always been my favorite. When I was a kid, I loved it when the water flowed like a river where the sidewalk meets the road. We’d kick and splash our way down the street through the gutter. When I saw the movie It, the drain scene between Georgie and Pennywise reminded me of those days of splashing down the gutter to the drain, but we didn’t see a single clown.
In Ghana, life seldom slowed down in the rain though sometimes it paused a little when the rain was the heaviest. I needed rainy day back up lessons because the rain on the tin roofs made hearing anything but the raindrops impossible. Mostly my students read or wrote an essay, harkening back to my own school days.
I loved the sound of the rain pelting the tin roofs in my classrooms and at home. I was surrounded by rain without getting wet. On one of my visits back to Ghana, I got caught in heavy rain so I stood under the roof overhang of a small seamstress shop near the market. Once they saw me standing there, I was invited to sit inside the small shop. A chair was provided, and I sat and watched the women cut and sew. We smiled and nodded at each other, about the only way we could communicate. I didn’t know FraFra, and the ladies knew little English. Their kindness kept me dry.
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March 13, 2023 at 9:18 pm
Hi Kat,
Today was sunny but chilly with a high of only 61°.
The rains are on the way. March, April, and May we get the majority of our annual rainfall. After the second week in June it just gets hot and dry. That time is referred to by our local weatherman as, “The Gates of Hell”.
When I was in school I hated rainy days for many reasons including no recess. Now I worry about supercell thunderstorms. These are the cumulomamas that rise up above 60,000 ft. above sea level. Living through one tornado was bad enough. I was reminded of Dorothy being swept up to Oz in the tornado. However, coming out of the house after that tornado was not the land of Oz.
March 13, 2023 at 9:46 pm
Hi Bob,
We stayed in the mid 40’s all day, and that is where we still are so no snow here, but the weather report never had snow here anyway. Snow will fall north of us. Some places may get 10 or more inches.
It rains here all year long, but I only hate the summer rains. That is when the tourists take to the roads to find something to keep them occupied. I stay home.
We have had only one tornado here on the cape. It took off the roof and destroyed one side of a motel. We have, however, had hurricanes which are so destructive with trees falling, roofs blown off and debris everywhere. I remember being without electricity for a week.
With the weather changing, I don’t know what the different conditions will bring.