Glorious, Lovely Expansive Lawn! Yum!

It’s raining and I mean it’s real rain.

People think it rains out here on the coast all the time. Well, it doesn’t. I’ve been going outside daily to walk dogs much of his adult life and I can tell truly that it doesn’t rain here all that often. Critical to understand, however, is the term “rain.” 

Just as people living in the Artic have names for different kinds of snow —usually for it’s texture on the land—we have parsed liquid precipitation and developed different words for different kinds of it. “Rain,” for me, is something that lasts for hours. Otherwise, we speak of “showers” when rain falls for short periods, and “drizzle” when we get what are essentially periods of heavy mist falling. And so on. “Rain” is long lasting and it can vary from light to heavy. Today is heavy noisy rain (so far).

Summer stopped abruptly on Sept. 8^th; I had the first of two torrential downpours that day—and I mean torrential! I’ve had two such downpours here that most people on the island avoided. I am clearly ‘in the zone.’ 

I’ve had torrential rain again this morning (it’s 8:00 am). “Torrential” rain never lasts long; we get short deluge’s and in between is regular, but often heavy, rain. It’s coming in waves this morning and it’s very dark. It’s making so much noise on my tin roof that I can’t hear my radio very well. 

Sheba went out, did her business as quickly as she could and came right back inside. Although it’s only September 10^th, many places in BC have already had more rainfall that we usually get in the entire month. We’re having a water apocalypse. But the grass keeps growing! And I keep the fire lit to cut down on humidity in our cozy home. 

If you look at the photo of the yard in yesterday’s post and compare it to this one, you’ll understand my amazement at the speed at which the lawn is growing.

This used to look like a yard with mange. It was all weeds and Fir needles, rocks and vines. Now, even only this far grown in, it soothes me and enriches my mood to look out at a yard that welcomes all who enter. And the path has now settled and gaps between the boards can be seeded. All the work was definitely worth it.

For a while there, after a glorious summer spent almost entirely outdoors (except for sleep), the suddenness of the change to endless drizzle was hard to take. And worse, I worried about how I would fill my time, feeling forced to be indoors. But I’ve no concerns at all anymore. I’m adjusted now.

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I had two migraines yesterday. I’ve absolutely no idea why, either. So last night I took an Atavan; the resultant long deep sleep has broken the spell—at least temporarily. I feel better today and can speak.