Rain?

Header picture, Connemara Farm is an oil painting by Elizabeth Ryan



Dear Diary,

Rain. Condensed moisture of atmosphere falling visibly in separate drops

Concise Oxford Dictionary 1963

Quite by chance I have homework for my writing group and the subject this month is rain. We meet next week so I really must get on with it. I have been musing and wondering what to write, either some prose or a poem maybe? I have an old poem that I wrote ages ago called Rain but I can’t find it anywhere. Such is life.

But speaking of rain…. the book I ordered last week has a lot of rain in it! It arrived quite quickly which has pleased me greatly.

It is A Place Near Heaven, A Year in West Cork by Damien Enright. It is a month by month account, I have read January to start and then skipped forward to October ( I am in autumn mode).






I am savouring every word as each one is woven beautifully, such is the quality of Enright’s prose. Rarely do I buy a book ‘unseen’ but I am not disappointed with this purchase.

In this part of the world at the edge of the Atlantic, there are only short spells when it is not raining but it would suit me fine as I love rain. I may have mentioned this eccentricity before? I feel at home in warm, wet, westerly winds, perhaps it is because my roots are there? It suits my complexion. (Can one have an inborn affinity for a climate, is it a genetic thing?)

I am not too far removed from a rainy climate though, as here in Wales we get more than a fair share of the wet stuff. Perhaps I do belong on the west coast of Ireland though, as I do sometimes feel like a misfit in a stranger’s land.

However this summer my romance with rain has been tested to its limits and has proved that you can have too much of a good passion (first cliché). But the weather was not normal, I would even go so far as to call it freakish. And it wasn’t so much the rain, it was the lack of sunshine that affected me.

I live by a water course. With my Moon in Scorpio and water being its element, it means that I need to live near water, so I have got something right. I also live with a Scorpio (for my sins!). Does that make sense? I hope so. The moon rules the emotions and water affects my moods.

I nurture a dream of owning a narrow boat; even living aboard one appeals to me sometimes. This dream resurfaces from time to time, along with memories of a wonderful holiday I spent on one many moons ago when we cruised from Brewood in Staffordshire to Llangollen in North Wales and back again. It was the most relaxing holiday I have ever had.

I am digressing again, such is my habit. I am on the water theme but not quite on my subject of rain.

Shall I start with its advantages? In no particular order.

We need it to live (beat that one if you can!).

We need to drink water. We are made up of 80% water.

Plants need it to grow.

If it stopped raining all rivers would dry up.

Serious drought is already a reality in some countries and it is said that future wars will be fought over water rather than oil.

It washes our clothes. I need it for my washing machine and also my shower and my bath!


Disadvantages

It very often ruins our plans be they social or sporting.

It is only rarely accompanied by sunshine (but when it is we are sometimes blessed with a rainbow).





It can cause flooding which is sometimes extreme and can cause devastation. (This is a big one).

I can’t think of any more. I rest my case.

PS. Ducks love it.

I’ll end with haiku and then I must try and write something sensible for a change.

Drizzle, dip and spit
Shower, stream or pour
Rain in torrents, cats and dogs.


Drizzle, mizzle rain
On raincoat or umbrella
Till rainbows end

Bye for now,
Cait.