Living in the Rainy Days...

Well, okay, only one rainy day.

I love living in thunderstorms. We started out today with the nice thunderstorm, around 09:30, maybe 10:00. There are no real benefits to early-morning thunderstorms, of course. No storm before the late afternoon, evening or at night (before midnight) has any benefit - it just creates heavier humidity - as if anyone wants that. But still, a storm is a storm, so I enjoy them any time of the day.

But today's thunderstorm brought with it a slew of rain, and I don't care for plain old rainy days. If it is not going to be thrilling and exciting and full of raw power and insanity, then I want it to be sunny and lovely, no humidity (I will settle for low humidity, which here is a number such as 40. Once it hits 55%, it becomes remarkable and of course on those days it hits the 80s and 90s forget it. I want nothing to do with that as well.

And while I can't completely admit that is was not without its element of surprise - we received four and a half inches of rain from the start of the storm through to midday - it still wasn't exciting weather. I want to put on the fireplace, curl up in a blanket, drink hot tea or hot apple cider and read. Anything else just isn't the same. At least in books the weather is better! (At least it will change while you're reading.)

I am too weirdly sensitive to the temperature and humidity. For over a week and a half, I had the windows to the house wide open - instead of the typical dog days of August type weather, we had more like early autumn weather, which I just love - temperatures in the low to mid-70s (although I love the autumn with the 60s, so I can start wearing sweaters, which I enjoy wearing so much), low humidity, sunny days, cool nights. The nights were down into the high 50s to low 60s, perfect for having the windows. I also find the cacophony of August and September insects to be like a lullaby. I just delight in those sounds.

I like all of our seasons, although I like winter the least, I do still like it - when in the winter, there is the hope of the coming spring; the beauty of snow blanketing the lawn; the semi-warm days that are inserted in between the cold ones. There is the fireplace, the cuddling on the couch and in bed with my Luis, who is himself a furnace. I enjoy all of that, too.

The spring, of course, brings with it the hints of warmth returning, the wild, wet and windy weather of March, the rains of April, and then those first buds on the trees and bushes, ready to be done with the weather-imposed nudity of winter. The chartreuse colours of the teeny, still-furled new leaves seems to just pop out one day without warning. The early flowers, such as crocuses, make their appearance, then the middle ones, like the sunny daffodils, and finally the late spring flowers, such as the beauteous and boldly coloured tulips and the lovely-scented hyacinths herald the coming of summer. Or at least the earliest of the summer weather. Usually there is one week in April where the temperatures outside soar unexpectedly into the 90s and suddenly people who thought they'd live their lives without the cost of air conditioning are first in line and fighting in the aisles of every store to buy one RIGHT NOW.

Summer brings the slew of open-air events - concerts, fairs, competitions, festivals, etc. I love the summer as it brings the Renaissance Faires to life. Eight weekends of dressing as a wench, frolicking with friends and buying incense to scent the house and unique jewelry and other bits and pieces colours the rest of the season. And I know, too, that the beginning of the New York Renaissance Faire also heralds the approaching autumn.

I have one flaw in my love of the four seasons, and this is that autumn is not merely my favourite season, but it is the one I spend the rest of the year looking forward to this one. And not really all of it, but the part of it with the picture-perfect weather, the colours on the leaves exploding, the light sweater weather, cool evenings and nights, the hint of the coming winter, that is just a mere thought on the breeze that ruffles the bright red leaves.

I can't wait to drink spiced apple cider, drink hot tea all day, wear jeans and sweaters, take pictures of the changing leaves, and going to parks to share their changing leaves. I can't wait to go to the Conklin Farm to select two pumpkins to carve out designs and light candles inside to burn on our front steps. I want to decorate with pumpkin lanterns and glass leaves and the fragrance of Yankee Candle's Autumn Leaves or Red Currant or Apple Cider in every room of the house. I decorate with the streamers of autumn-coloured leaves inside, that I buy at Micheal's. I just revel in the autumn season.

And all too soon, it is over.

Ah! But what's this? In the midst of all my ruminating, the sky has lightened and it is - dare I say it? - Sun! Yahoo!