Rainy Summer Days

The woods across the street from our house after a
cooling rain shower.

It seems like we spend a lot of time thinking about weather - talking about it and anticipating it.  Here in the Willamette Valley our climate has been quite remarkable over the last couple of weeks.  While the rest of the nation appears to be baking in a heat wave, we've had several days of cool, cloudy and rainy weather.  Before you offer any condolences for our delayed summer, let me assure you that they are not required.  At least, not for us.

With the exception of about four weeks between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, I am happy to enjoy a grey, drizzly climate.  Of course, even here that's unlikely as the dog days of summer set in (we call that August).  For me, the last few days have been a sort of heaven.  No need to mow lawns or pull weeds, no need to sweep walks or to follow children around requesting (demanding!) that they pick up the bikes, shoes, dishes, clothes, tools (really anything that can be carried) that are often deposited at the base of our porch and patio stairways. 

Instead, windows are open allowing great, damp, mild breezes to billow curtains and rustle papers.  Warm, cozy lamps are lit and noisy air conditioners are silenced.  In their place are the sounds of Mozart and Schubert (a new favorite - introduced to us while watching a new Katharine Hepburn movie, Undercurrent - Brahms Symphony Number 3, Third Movement...  listen below), and little children playing with their toys (really!).

Rather than feeling lethargic and unenthusiastic, as we generally do in the heat, we've felt energized and excited!  Sitting for hours in the studio creating, reading books (for me, nothing dapper and dreamy, but some fun murder mysteries...  Melissa is the literati in our house this week, reading Jane Eyre, paged marked with a Louis Vuitton ribbon bookmark that she recently made), cooking and watching movies.  It's been a lovely run.  We are supposed to have one more day of dreary weather, and I intend to make full use of it.

Before you think we are crazy, imagine the sound of big, wet drops of rain hitting the parched earth after a long spell of hot weather...  Think of that glorious scent of summer rain refreshing gardens, lawns and cleaning dusty streets.  Summer rain is, in our opinion, dreamy!