The Big Rain

It's July, and it's raining. After several days of showers and high winds, today has been unrelenting. It was pouring with rain when I woke in the night, it was heavier when I got up, and it is still doing it now. It makes me feel even more uncapacitated - wriggling into a suntop and shorts or trackies, slipping on sandals, fairly easy one-handed - waterproofs take a lot longer and require assistance. I haven't seen a sparrow in the garden all day, nor heard any birds in the woods, with one exception; there was a thrush singing its heart out when I took the dog out around lunchtime, its voice soaring majestically over the swollen stream and making me aware once more that there really ARE things to be grateful for in this life.

As I write this at 7.30pm the rain has diminished to a drizzle and there are collared doves calling... perhaps the sun will return some time.