Barbara J. Hamby

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The Rains Came

The rain arrived in the night last night. I got out of bed and saw water bouncing off the pavement in the parking lot next door. The next time I got up, the pavement was nearly dry. But, in the morning, it was raining again as it did off and on all day. Actually, we need the moisture and the cleaning of the air. My little square foot of flowerbed by the front door is wet enough now to plant the kale I bought for winter color.

Since the poetry reading yesterday, snippets of poems are forming in my head. That hasn’t happened for a while, so it’s a good thing I took the trouble to drive through town to the bookstore. Every time I drive to Portland I remember why I never do that.

Since I don’t go often, I have no idea where construction is going on, what traffic changes have been made, etc. So I make wrong turns, go the longest way possible, and try to stay calm, cool and collected.

I just ate the snickerdoodle cookie I brought home from the buffet last night. I never make cookies any more, so I really enjoy that old-fashioned treat. We had a vegetarian dinner consisting of leftovers collected from the refrigerator. Even with two refrigerators, we seem to have very little excess space.

I’m getting excited about getting together with all my sisters the end of this month. The youngest will come here from Southern California, then she and I will drive to Seattle to join the other two. We will have a gathering of cousins in Seattle while we’re there and when we return to Portland, the two of us will go to Cottage Grove for some genealogy research she wants to do, then return to Portland from where she will fly home.

Tomorrow morning the monthly musical program will be presented next door at Town Hall. We plan to be there. The two programs I’ve seen since I’ve lived here have been excellent, so we expect to enjoy the presentation.

My swim and the hot tub mellowed me out, so it’s time to relax.