The rain started lightly yesterday afternoon but last night I could hear it on the roof. It is still raining, and when the house is quiet, I can still hear it hitting the roof. The tree next to my house was filled with yellow leaves yesterday morning. Today, after rain and a bit of wind, the tree is almost bare. Yesterday Skip, my factotum, and his helper Bobby came by to shut the deck for the winter (painful to write). They cleared the leaves first, but the deck is covered again. When I look out the window, I can see a shower of leaves falling every time the wind blows.

Skip and Bobby also put up my outside Christmas lights on the front fence, and they decorated a front bush with giant ornaments. The bush is lit by a floodlight. Last night half of the front lights lit, the half connected to the always lit star light. I went out to turn on the other side. Tonight I’ll be patient and see if the lights come on with the timer.

When I was a kid, everything about Christmas made me giddy. My father and mother always chose the tree. My mother was into full branches, no bare spots. I remember my father setting up the tree ahead of the decorating so its branches would fall. The house smelled best at the holidays, at Thanksgiving and at Christmas.

Alexa made me proverbially gag this morning. She wished me a rainy day filled with rainbows. If she had started to sing The Rainbow Connection, I’d have lost it.

Despite the morning Alexa greeting, my favorite day is a rainy day, a not so dark rainy day but a rainy day which needs a bit of lamp light. My house always feels especially cozy on days like today. In the living room, only the corner light is lit. Over the sink in the kitchen, it’s the ceiling light. Here in the den the table lamp shines on everything I write or read.

I loved being in school on a rainy day. I could watch the rain hit the windows. Everything felt slower. The classroom sounds seemed subdued, tampered by the rain. Mostly I could only hear the rustling of book pages as they were turned. Lunch was the busiest part of the day. We walked around to buy our milk. We talked while we ate. We stayed in for recess.

Today I have no errands. Skip took my trash so no dump run. I have plenty of food and have a couple of new books. Today will be quiet. I think you’ll only hear the rustle of pages, the click of Henry’s nails and dialogue from an old movie.