Enough of this rain already! The atmospheric river is really getting me down this May. We’ve never had this much rain in Sonoma County for as long as I can remember. Forty seven inches since the season started in October versus less than twenty this time last year. On weekends this time of year I’m usually on my bike enjoying beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures, Today I went for a spin but headed home when it started to rain on me after less than thirty minutes.
I’ve been working out in the rain, tied to a dirty old ball and chain. (Flat & Scruggs)
Why does it feel like we’re living in the Pacific northwest all of a sudden? This is the time of year we should be packing our shorts and flip flops for the next bluegrass campout and wondering if we’ll need to go for a swim in the river because of the dry heat.
When the cold dreary rain starts falling
And the clouds hide the bright golden moon
As I see your face right before me
I can cry as I sing this lonesome tune (Stanley Brothers)
Rain is a metaphor for sadness. I once heard an overcast dripping morning described by a Frenchman like this: “It is a sad day”. Jacques wasn’t referring to anything sad in his experience that overcast day in New York. Everybody was having a great weekend. He was simply remarking about how the unexpectedly bad weather made him feel.
Raindrops, pretty little raindrops
Makes me think, my dear, of tears I’ve shed
Falling on my window pane, I know I’ll never be the same
Without you, I wish that I were dead (Carter Family)
When Flatt & Scruggs sing about lost love the rain is falling
Just listen to the rain beat on my window pane
In our little cabin home on the hill (Bill Monroe)
This allergy season is the worst I can remember in twenty years of working in a medical clinic. The tree pollen has everybody sneezing right now and another rain doesn’t necessarily wash the pollen out of the air. Sometimes the allergies get worse. It all depends on how heavy the rain is.
Many little raindrops are falling close to me
Makes all the streams and rivers as muddy as can be
Well it’s rainin’ rainin’ rainin’ here this morning
As the Mississippi flow on to the sea (Grandpa Jones)
I don’t like rain very much. But I have to admit it does bring life itself. Flowers bloom. Crops grow. Salmon swim up stream. As John Ruskin said: “Sunshine is delicious,rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather”
Cloudy in the West and it looks like rain
Looks like rain boys, looks like rain
Cloudy in the west and it looks like rain
I’m on my long journey home
I hope to see you under sunny skies in Grass Valley!
