These times are the February of my past. Hot, wet, warm. Great if you're with the love of your life but not so pleasant if you're trying to get your washing dry.
El Ninio and El Ninia seem to have beleaguered our fair nation for years. We've had 10 years of drought, water restrictions and hot brown weather but this February takes me back 15 years. It's sticky, humid, grey, wet . . .GREEN . . just in a matter of 3 days the landscape has lushed up.
My kids lament the lack of sunshine but this is 'normal' to me. The past two weekends have blessed us with rain. I know that in the green north this is no big deal but when your dams are below 51% and your land parched, your back yard a dustbowl, your ewes sold off for meat instead of lambing and your farm on the edge of obliteration . . .rain is a lifesaver. And it's falling in abundance.
Rain is our salvation, always welcome, relished, enjoyed and unusual.
This weekend, it has poured, Lily is in her element because labradors love water. I've had to lock her in her enclosure adjacent to the laundry to avoid her royal sogginess jumping on my bed and smelling like an old rug.
Clare and Adam were a little disappointed because they'd arranged a picnic with the Groovy Grannies and had to resort to the dry refuge of a central coast restaurant instead of al fresco by the beach. I'm a little pissed because my washing isn't drying. Having said that, I'm sitting here in a T Shirt and my glasses fogging up every time I open the oven to check the progress of my lasagne.
Bottom line, the frogs are chirping at a deafening level, the trees are palpably saying 'thank you' to the watery muses and my pool has topped up to overflowing. Rain is a blessing, a sign of renewal and drips positive energy, everywhere . . .
There's nothing more soporific than falling asleep to the sound of raindrops cascading on your hot tin roof . . .I love the rain . . .
What you lookin' at . .I'm just drying out . ..
Yeh well washing can be a problem . . .
So we hunker down and play games . . .
sounds like a pretty good weekend
ReplyDeletegreat photos Baino. I esp. like the jasmine photo with the raindrops, and the gutter (great dof!) and the puddle.
Love puddles. just as well, living here in the UK - i'm so glad you've got some much-needed wetness too.
as for damp knickers. would no knickers be better than damp knickers?
It's raining in Dublin, Baino. But it's always raining here. When I listen to 'Rainy Night in Georgia', I think of Dublin! We don't even have the heat to make it feel nice.
ReplyDeleteWe are forecast rain here over the next two days... it'll be fab, can't wait. i know that we will have to have a holiday from work because the roads will go crazy :0))
ReplyDeleteIt is wet here too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't imagine that pictures of wet can be so interesting!
Glad you're appreciating the rain. Here in the UK of course we would appreciate a bit less. Especially after our bedroom ceiling started dripping and we had to get the builder in to reseal the chimney stack.
ReplyDeleteIt may not be too cold but those ponies still look a bit sorry for themselves....
-10 C for a high here, same as overnight... rain/wet snow for monday with a high of +1 C
ReplyDeleteenjoy your sogginess!
hope there are no brush fires this year...
Another lover of rainy Summer days here! Although last Summer for us was too wet, and that had a seriously negative effect on agriculture around here; I always look forward to fresh, local tomatoes in August, but the tomato crop was ruined by all that rain.
ReplyDeleteStill, when you've had a serious drought going (and we had a bad one back in the late '70s into the early '80s here), a rainy stretch is a glorious thing!
you're drowning in rain & Reya is buried in snow. We're just freezin' our asses off in New England w/o the beautiful snow.
ReplyDeleteGotta watch those titles, Baino. I mean "A little moist down under"? There's another blog, The Peach Tart. If she'd titled one of her posts like that it would go in a whole different direction. hahahahaha!
i love this post for so many reasons!
ReplyDeletethat photo of the rain from the drainspout is spectacular.
i love the rain too, i love how cozy and inwardly productive it makes me feel,
and i love that you are enjoying yourself--wash away you bad listener worries! ('your're being a bad listener' is what jess tells mr. ryan when the circumstance dictates and now he says that to his cartoons when the circumstance dictates--too cute)
haha, the word verf. is pheas, as in just give me pheas.
love you of course
:)
I like the line about there being children who have never seen a puddle! Your pictures are great!
ReplyDeleteI love sleeping as the rain hits the roof of the house. There is no better therapy.
Arizona has been having a serious drought and now we are getting one rain storm after another. No one is complaining. I hope it will keep the forest fires down this year.
ReplyDeleteMy old bones don't like the humidity, but I will put up with it to have my bushes watered.
Tee hee hee moistness down under! loves it!
ReplyDeleteYou should come over here my poppet and bring your laundry, I love doing laundry, I am the laundry queen and while we're waiting on laundry to be done I'll watch movies with ya and make you eggs benedict (just mastered them this morning)
yep, wet water is a good excuse to hang out and chill. And nothing is more fun than splashing in deep warm puddles when you're a kid...just so there's no big holes lying about. Whoosh!
ReplyDeletethose are great pictures. i'll happily trade you that rain for the blizzard we're having here today.
ReplyDeletehave a great weekend. try to stay dry
Yes movies...Four Holidays...
ReplyDeletep.s.John enjoyed his birthday...went to bed at around 7.30pm
(Two clint eastwood movies later... I want to know when you came to my house & photographed MY gutters! Lovely images.
ReplyDeleteSmashing photographs, the bird is excellent, really like that one! Can't imagine kids not having puddles to mess around in; very strange.
ReplyDeleteIt rained a little here yesterday – it was gray and kind of cold (in the 40s.) I think the sound of the rain is nice in summer, when everything is green outside and still looks good, just shiny like in your pictures. But in winter…it’s not the same. Would you like some tips on things about Paris? If so, let me know and I’ll send you some.
ReplyDeleteHmm. .stretched the 50mm lens Lettuce. Haha . . not going to answer re the knickers.
ReplyDeleteI guess rain is precious to you lot over there too ED?
We're in the same part of the world Ocean, wet season is upon us!
Actually Nick we had a horrendous downpour at about 10pm last night and my living room roof started leaking! Buckets a plenty. It's a brave fire that attempts to burn in this sogginess I can tell you!
We've been in drought for a decade Roy. Fortunately, these rains are also falling inland although some will have to wait for the water to reach them. It's amazing how things seem to turn 'green' overnight.
Hana . . you're right Cali, I'll probably get spammed for that one!
Pheas? Not peas? kj. Still raining. I can't get my washing dry! Looks like a Chinese laundry down here.
It's true Otin, there would be many kids out west under 10 years old who probably have never seen rain. And damn you for not playing hangman! Now what am I going to do this afternoon?
Darlene, I just had breakfast with friends who have just come back from the US. They said that Arizona had about 4 inches of snow a fortnight ago!
Jelly you're a wicked girly swat! You love doing laundry? Sick puppy. Ah just had eggs benedict with smoked salmon and spinach . . yummo.
The kids used to stand under the overflowing gutters for a lukewarm shower Tom. They're a bit big for that now so poked holes in my lounge room ceiling to let the water drip through! Guess who's doing some plastering this week!
Yeh, I think I'd rather the warm rain Jaime.
God he's a party animal isn't he Vita?
Haha . . Isabella, sounds like we have the same problem, too much rain or too small gutters!
Weird isn't it Unstranger but true. Then there are tons of people here who've never seen snow either. The bird is a Noisy Miner. Very cheeky but this poor little thing was soaked to the bone.
Vagabonde, any tips on Paris or France for that matter would be more than welcome. My email's in my profile. No winter rain isn't the same but it doesn't rain much here after April . . .winter is our 'dry' season.
Ooh Ian I missed you sorry. Yeh every picture I ever see of Ireland seems to have that 'damp' look to it. I don't think I'd like constant rain, especially if it's cold. Especially if I'm outside watching the Rugby, you're a dedicated fan Rev.
ReplyDeleteI love those photos!
ReplyDeleteRain isn't so bad on a hot day; quite lovely actually as an *occasional* thing. I'd love to learn to appreciate it again with a good drought! LOL
Beautiful photos, all of 'em.
ReplyDeleteWe were lucky if we got 2mm down here in Melbourne, so I'm still slooshing buckets from the bath and washing machine and wondering why my shoulders hurt!
The snow your friends told you about was either on top of Mt. Lemmon where there is a ski run or in Northern Arizona. No snow where I live, but another rain is forecast for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYeah for you and the extra rain! Loved the pics of your jasmine and the rain sheering off gutter.
ReplyDeleteEl Nino is filling our dams up too as we've been in a drought cycle too. We've gotten, and are getting, lots of rain the past few weeks. So nice for a change.
What? You don't like the smell of old, wet rug? Poor puppy!
Just teasing...I can tell she is one of your faves and rightly so.
Wish you could send some rain our way Baino, but not the way the weather works in this country is it. We always get what comes over from Western Australia.As you know, lush isn't really a word that's ever been used to describe South Australia...and lush in February? Never going to happen.While you try to dry your washing, I am experimenting with fabric softeners, so my sun-faded washing isn't stiff as a board when I take it off the line,creases baked in. So desperate am I for the sound of water, I have installed a little gurgly fountain outside the bedroom window. Affected toilet going habits somewhat, so now it's just on during the day.Enjoyed your photos!
ReplyDeleteLove that photo of the water sheering off your gutter, Baino.
ReplyDeleteWe had a little rain here last week, but not nearly enough. a couple of nights ago there was a little overnight sprinkle too, once again, not enough. Still, if we don't have the dry we can't appreciate the wet I suppose....
Love your drying off birdie! Cute! And the puddle shot is just gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteAs for rain... sore point there - we heard last week that SA will be out of water by 2025 - too rapid urban growth, failing infrastructure, declining water quality. So, first they turned out the lights and are tying to hike the price by 150% now this. I think someone may as well just lock the door and throw away the key. Oops, sorry, got a bit side-tracked there!
The rain Gods have been blessing us with their tears of joy now that El Nino is back. La Nina has been here for too long. It will probably take a few more years of rain like this year to make a full coverage, which is unlikely to happen due to over 30 million people using water that is meant to sustain only about 15 million.
ReplyDeleteIt kinda makes you wonder why they do not start investing in a desalination water plant. I mean with the Pacific Ocean just sitting there pretty much right outside our front door. Although our state's government wastes so much of our tax money on dumb crap that no one here gives a shit about. And we never seem to know where all of our tax money goes to. With our state having such a large economy and billions collected in our hard earned tax dollars, you just think they would fix the freaking pot holes in our roads, and do something about our water shortage.
Those are some beautiful pictures that you took and that is so cute that Lily likes to play in the rain. I guess the only way to dry your clothes would be to get out a hair dryer or just to iron them dry. When we were kids we had to iron everything and my mom would soak all of our clothes in liquid starch then wring them out and iron them dry. I hate ironing.
God bless.
sounds like my kind of weather...for a few day at least. Can only imagine the torture of living with 40+ temperatures...this chicky just can't take those temps so how does one know when it is cooler so they know when to book their trip to come and visit their son and daughter in law and friends they never met before?
ReplyDeleteYour pictures just keep getting better! Love it!
ReplyDeleteI love that post,it's full of life!Thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteFinally I get round to seeing what we were skyping about!!! I love the look on that birds face!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I listen to 'Rainy Night in Georgia', I think of Dublin! We don't even have the heat to make it feel nice
ReplyDeleteWork From Home