”The rain cools the air, calms the soul and replenishes life.”
Last night it rained, and I missed it. I am a lover of rain. A metal barrel holding the birdseed is outside my den window. The rain taps the top of the barrel. It plinks in a small rain but sounds like drums or thunder in a heavy rain. My house in Ghana had a metal roof. During the rainy season a soft rain sounded like small pebbles hitting the roof. A heavy rain was tremendous, loud and overwhelming. I’d sit in my living room and just listen to the music of the rain.
When I was a kid, I always got wet walking to school in the rain, mostly my shoes and my hair got soaked. My coat, not a raincoat but a long coat, covered the rest of me. My shoes sometimes bubbled at the toes. My hair dried faster. I loved school on a rainy day. The classroom was lit by hanging pendant lights but was still shadowy, dark in places. I liked to watch the rain hit the tall windows, windows so tall only a hook on a long stick could reach to open or close them. When the windows were closed, the rain drops would roll down from the top until they disappeared. I watched covertly.
A spawn of Satan has pushed one of my clay pots to the deck where it broke. It is a grey spawn who dines al fresco at a long feeder. He eats upside down. I always wish I had a slingshot. To think, when I was a kid, I loved feeding the squirrels in the Public Garden. They came right up to us to get the peanuts we had bought. We squealed in delight. I was young, naive.
Many of the appliances in my house have reached the pinnacles of their lives. My washing machine was the first to go to its proverbial heavenly reward. I started leaving my clothes at the laundromat to be washed and dried. The other day I decided to hand wash some clothes as the bags of dirty clothes were filled and towering. I brought the clean clothes to the dryer. I checked in a while. They were still wet. It took three long cycles before they dried. My dryer is dying. My fridge too needs help. It doesn’t stay cold enough. These appliances are old. I just wished they had staggered the ends of their lives.
My dance card for the week is uke filled. I had a concert yesterday and have a few more this week: today, Wednesday and Friday. I also have practice and a lesson. I never imagined my life would revolve around a musical instrument with four strings.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
August 19, 2024 at 5:15 pm
Hi Kat,
No rain here. Today’s high is forecasted for 107°. Right now it’s 106°, thankfully, the relative humidity is only 28%. That’s a dry heat.
We have moved the washer and the dryer four or five times and t didn’t purchase either. They came along with my wife. I suspect they may be the first to die. We have been married 39 years in November. I have two refrigerators, the older one is in the garage and the newer one is in the kitchen. When the one in the kitchen’s ice maker died, our appliance repairman transplanted the one from the garage freezer. I think that the appliances that came with this house are old enough to have been manufactured in the U.S. That’s why I fix them rather than replace them. I suspect one of them will die sooner rather than later. I keep my appliance repairman’s number on speed dial.
When I went to high school in New York City, I had to get used to winter weather. My school had a natatorium, “An indoor swimming pool”. It was located in a wing of the building across from the wing of my next class. When the bell would ring, indicating the change of class, the swimming teacher would yell, “Everyone out of the pool, and no late passes”. I had five minutes to dry off, put on my cloths, and then race across the snow covered and windswept space between the wings for my next class. Usually, my hair was still wet and my shirt and pants were damp. It was a chilly walk in the freezing weather. A good memory on a 107° afternoon. 🙂
August 19, 2024 at 9:38 pm
Hi Bob,
It rained in the late afternoon which has left the night quite humid. I had no concert because of the rain.
My refrigerator is worth fixing but not the washer and dryer. They are big and clunky and quite old. A few months ago I had to replace my water heater. I don’t know what else is close to its demise. I have a list of things to do for the house as well. I need a new front fence, and my deck and the wooden furniture need to be power washed. One deck rail needs to be replaced. I think that’s it.
That’s terrible to make you walk on a cold winter’s day. They should have build a sort of protected walkway. I remember when they were doing renovations and adding a new wing to my school. They waited to pave walkways until they saw the ways kids walked from one side of the schools to the other sides. I thought the contractor was pretty smart.
August 19, 2024 at 11:40 pm
On the hottest day of the year, my downstairs AC decided to quit. I called my AC guy who replaced the condenser and got it running again. My wife stayed upstairs until he showed up about seven. Thank goodness he was available.
August 20, 2024 at 12:02 am
I’m so glad he was available. With your temperatures you might have melted!