This morning I had a library board meeting at 9. The alarm woke me up with enough time for a cup of coffee and most of one paper. Had I no crack of dawn meeting, I would have lounged around all day. It’s ugly out: cold, wet and windy. The Weather Channel has issued an advisory. This nor’easter will continue through tomorrow when it will produce high tides and large waves to batter the coastline. I did all my errands while I was out. I got more books at the library, my beach and dump stickers at the town hall, a few groceries and I voted in the local election. After I finish here, I will get right back into my cozies and spend the day reading and doing little else, except maybe a little nap in the afternoon and catching up on a program or two I had DVRed. The day isn’t meant for industry.

Even when I was a kid, I loved lying in bed and reading on a rainy day. I’d come home from school soaked by the walk. My shoes squished and bubbled, my hair was plastered to my head, my uniform skirt soaked and my hands freezing from carrying my book bag. I’d quickly change into my flannel pajamas, jump into bed, turn on the bed lamp, get cozy under the covers and read. It was like my own private world. Everyone else was downstairs watching TV so I had Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden all to myself. My mother would yell to me upstairs when it was dinner time, and I would reluctantly give up my world and join the rest of the family.

Rain and I have always been the best of friends. Summer rain is my favorite. It patters as it falls on the leaves and always seems gentler somehow than in all the other seasons. The sounds of rain on the roof and against the windows is like a song to me, one big on the brass and percussion instruments.

In my backyard I would put a cottage with a tin roof so I could be surrounded by the rain. It would have a daybed, a table and a comfy chair. That would be enough. It would be near perfect.