No matter how often it happens, it’s still surprising to be caught in rain falling from a clear blue sky. Since moving to Florida in 2004, I’ve seen it happen a number of times and been caught out in it once or twice, thinking it safe to go to the beach only to get drenched.
This morning, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it looked like a perfect opportunity to sit outside to finish my coffee and maybe make a dent in the book I’ve been trying to read. No sooner had I gotten settled, though, when I heard the patter on the leaves above me. The dogs hustled in from their interrupted stretch in warm grass, and we made it into the house just as the sky opened up. It rained for about thirty minutes, just long enough to get settled in again and marvel from my office window just how cool it is to watch sparkles of light in raindrops. Which reminds me…
On the hunt for Minnie
When my granddaughter turned four, she and I took our first solo trip together to see Minnie Mouse at Disney World. We hadn’t spent much time together–I lived in Maryland and she lived in Georgia–but we were determined to get to know each other better during our week in Florida. Our first morning out, a warm and beautiful January day, couldn’t have been sunnier–until rain came down in buckets unannounced.
I was worried about what we’d do if it kept up, if a storm settled in to stay for the entire week. Not being familiar with the weather in Florida, I didn’t know that the showers would come and go in small bursts, leaving us plenty of time to play. That first day with my granddaughter, I worried that it would be hard to find things to talk about if, rather than stalking Disney characters, we were forced to stay indoors. She’d become quiet and I thought a little brooding (like her mother) once the rain began but she put my mind at ease as smart-beyond-their-years four-year-olds often do.
“What would you like to talk about?” I asked thinking another comforting discussion of how much fun we were going to have or how much her mama and daddy would miss her on their cruise might be in order as she stared out the window at the rain. Big brown eyes turned to me with a smile. “I’d like to talk about the pattern the raindrops make on the window,” she said and traced a track with her finger.
I knew then that we were going to be just fine.
Just for Fun!
Super Moon Reminder! At 1:32 AM (EST) Sunday morning, we’ll be able to see the largest and closest moon of 2013. Rising at just after sunset and setting just before dawn, the moon will be at its perigee, 221,824 miles from the earth rather than it’s apogee of 252,581. There seems to be be mixed messages coming from scientists about what this means but regardless of the percentage (14% vs. 7%), the moon will be pretty darn huge! I hope you have a chance to see it.
Cave Dweller: Alone in a Social World 