Thursday, July 05, 2007

The rain blog.

If the truth were told this picture's a bit of cheat. I took it a while ago - one of many attempts to capture the transient wisps of cloud that drift across the conifers of Bagnage Wood.

It seems that if the mist isn't hugging the Rea Valley at the bottom of the hill then it's settled around our shoulders up here. Perhaps it's the price one pays for living at the top of a low mountain. On a day like today, for mist read 'rain'. Badnage Wood is barely visible; sky, field and trees are merged in an amorphous grey mass. It seems to have been raining forever and the foreseeable future looks fairly damp too. I'm now writing the blog I wasn't going to write. The one about rain.Depressed? Down-hearted? Moi? Not really - just vaguely frustrated that the possibilities of the English summer are passing by. Long leisurely sun-drenched days are myth or memory, roses waterlogged, perennials sagging, vegetables refusing steadfastly to grow, a wardrobe of summer clothes unworn. (Although my plight can't be as bad as M & S's who surely have rails of flimsy garments hanging unsold while punters rummage elsewhere for cashmere and fleece.) I've missed long summer evenings sitting in the gloaming, watching the swallows swoop their way to roost and then dodging bats a-flutter as the stars come out.

Hey ho! Is the cream jug half full or the milk jug half empty? I come down on the side of optimism; the cream jug is half full. Even when the box of optimism looks fairly depleted I can always find a few bits at the bottom. You know the sort of thing - raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.....

Rain, rubbish weather - from my perspective this is still a pretty good place to be.

As luck would have it....

I've been tagged. Again.
(I have snailbeachshepherdess to thank this time.)

- 5 things to pick you up from being down:

'Worse things happen at sea' - This profound pearl of wisdom came from my brother when we were aged 8 and 10 respectively and a small friend cut her foot wading in a pond. Yep, it's true isn't it? Boats sink. Sharks have sharp teeth......Why am I moaning - there are others far worse off than me. Put things in perspective.

Do something - Get out. Walk. Weed. Dig. Listen. Talk. Shop. Get involved in something. Anything but introspection.

Whistle a happy tune....'I'm H. A. P.P. Y. cos I'm S. A. V.E .D. G. L. O. R. Y. has made F. R. double EE.' Hmm. Maybe not that one - but I do remember a friend at school singing it and falling about laughing. Sing. Make a joyful noise. Make it loud.

Put things in small boxes - compartments - don't try to eat the elephant in one go.

Remember nothing lasts forever - everything passes. What's a wave on a pond today is a ripple tomorrow and still water the day after.

If I could have a 6th it would be stillness.

10 comments:

Annie said...

Rain...I must be honest and say "I love it". Maybe not quite so much all at once but walking in the rain....and yes, with the one I love [if only he loved it as much as me]. Ive sat and watched my birds feeding, sheltering and even playing in the recent showers and if I was as talented as you with my camera I would have snapped a baby robin taking a bath in one of the many new made puddles.....bliss

Unknown said...

I've heard that August is going to be a scorcher - not much consolation at the beginning of July, but I suppose it's something to look forward to!! Love the photos.

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

lovely photo and so agree with the rain and its effect on the garden. I had a perfect deepest red flower on a new David Austin rose this morning and know it will have been battered to ruin. it has been raining like a wall of water for the last hour and a half. agree with you about stillness too.

snailbeachshepherdess said...

As I type there is some watery sun over the long mountain...and a bit of blue sky as well....So if I start on the loud music and bad singing over here and you let rip over there....poor old Wipso will be deafened on the floor of the Rea valley....I've sussed who exactly Wipso is and haven't stopped laughing...The bestest childminder in the world..my two youngest were both Wipso babies!! cant understand why she doesn't come into purple skool properly..coz shy she aint!!

Chris at 'Chrissie's Kitchen' said...

thanks. Lizzie x

Elizabethd said...

Here they say that once the 15th July is over, we will have the very hot summer we were promised.
Like you, stillness is , for me, a healer.

Mopsa said...

It's so hard to be chirpy about unremitting rain. Desperate for hot sun to make hay; never had to wait so late in the year. And never had so many summer suppers indoors. The dogs should be hurtling over fields of short cropped grass and instead bounce like deer over the thigh-high and soaked grass, heavy with seed heads. The sheep are hidden from view and the pig paddock is a quagmire. I'd like a few weeks without wellies.

mountainear said...

We've got a handful of sheep on our little field - amongst them some very late lambs which are hidden by the grass most of the time with only their ears showing.

Today looks promising - in as much as it's not actually raining.....

Pondside said...

I love your list! Singing is something that I'd have added for a sixth - who can be sad while belting out a tune?

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