These pictures are from yesterday's daybreak stroll. Beauteous. Cool enough in the morning to be fresh, before the lingering summer heats things up. That's the way it's been, more or less, for the past several days.
No sunshine this morning. In fact, they are calling for rain.
I'm actually okay with it, and am even hoping for rain today. It's been a long hot summer, and I guess I'm with the ground, waiting for in the relief of precipitate blessing. And when it comes we'll all say to each other "We really needed this."
Besides all that, a rainy day makes the kind of work I need to be doing right now - packing, prepping, thinking through all the lists in anticipation for an upcoming trip to Thailand - more cozy, more focused. A quieter space to concentrate maybe. Glad I don't have to be anywhere today. Just all safe and dry, inside, doing my thing, and feeling grateful.
If it gets as cold as they say it will, I will be grateful for that too. I'm a summer girl. But even for me, a crisper feel is welcome eventually. Reminds me of my Mom, who couldn't wait for the weather to turn, and then, that first energy-restoring frost of the season. Mom was more of a winter girl. Me, not so much, generally speaking. Even so, today's likelihood of rain, and the predicted temperature dip is welcome.
It's common, of course, for folks to feel differently about different kinds of weather; for hours of daylight, or varying temperatures, or the sound of the wind and rain, and perhaps especially extreme weather to nudge us towards certain moods.
We often enough use weather metaphors to describe our feelings. "Rainy day blues." "You are my sunshine." "Under the weather." "A breath of fresh air."
And what a crazy incredible thing, I think to myself as I sit here and write this, that my life is such right now that I can talk about the weather and how it makes me feel. That my circumstances are such that a Tuesday turn in the weather, can prompt a conversation. I do not take it for granted, this space in my story where life is this 'every day.' Not boring, not at all. Not without issues and concerns, certainly. And I process all the big bad things going on globally as best I can, and am not unaware of how far away things affect those I love right here.
But mostly, in the 'normal' mapping out of a week, a month, life is steady, solid, unfolding fairly quietly. For now. That can change, I know.
I know what it's like to have no head space for weather talk at all. To be oblivious to the sunshine or the rain, either way, because you're right in the middle of a different kind of storm, and you are holding on, or climbing out, or just white-knuckle surviving. I've been there, where my 'mood' is so much more complicated than the weather forecast.
So for today, when my thoughts are simply on the weather, I will revel in more than just the rain.
Today's blessing then, comes in the form of lyrics written by a Quaker named Joseph Brackett (1797-1892). May it be your gift today, whatever today is turning out to be for you.
Even if you don't know the tune, it helps if you picture something like a square dance going on.
Edit: At the recommendation of my daughter, here is a link to a rendition by Alison Krauss and Yo Yo Ma. Enjoy.
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.
‘Tis the gift to be loved and that love to return,
‘Tis the gift to be taught and a richer gift to learn,
And when we expect of others what we try to live each day,
Then we’ll all live together and learn to say,
When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.
Public Domain.
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