December Rain

Two water stories. . . .

It was a day of rain. We had rain from the moment we woke up, and the late afternoon into evening would even bring us thunderstorms, lightning, and eventually hail, which rattled the windows and covered the deck, followed by big winds.

But in the morning, there was a break in the rain, and I walked over to the Scotia Barrens to visit my favorite pond. The recent rains have filled it up enough for it to be open for reflections shots. This new development is a great source of joy to me, as the pond has been quite dry since early November.

So here is one of my reflections abstracts of my favorite vernal pond to help you feel calm and happy, which is what my water abstracts (and ice abstracts) do for me when I am making them. It's very zen, really, just standing there by the edge, making pictures, watching the rain.

In other, less happy news, on Saturday late afternoon, we received an automated phone call from our local water folks saying there had been a break in the main line. We were under a boil water advisory until further notice. So we stopped drinking and using the water. It was my birthday: we switched to wine instead!

When I got up on Sunday morning, I went to our local Facebook neighbors' group and checked out the written warning. I was curious about how to wash dishes under a boil water advisory (for those interested: they recommend washing them in soap and water as per usual, then soaking them in a mix of water and bleach for one minute before air drying).

What I discovered, though, was that our particular address was NOT listed among the official boil water advisory addresses. So we called Ben, the main water guy, around 8:30. He said he wasn't sure why we'd received the notice, as we were not affected by the alert, and our water should be fine. Hooray! This is how we managed to get out of two days of water boiling!

When I was walking back home from visiting my pond in the morning rain, this song came onto my blue tunes box, and I think it's a fine soundtrack for my image. It's dry, it's sad, it's draggy, it's haunting, it's moody, it's perfect. And that back-beat sounds like a slow and comforting heartbeat. It's a dirge to sunshine loved by a girl walking in liquid sunshine. Give it a moment to seep deep into your bones. Here are Jamey Johnson, Twiggy Ramirez, and Shooter Jennings (yes, son of Waylon), with You Are My Sunshine.