Mood-Setting Monday

     This Monday, I'm thinking about rain. The smell of rain is renewing, refreshing, soothing, and healing. The air smells clean and moist, with undertones of green, growing life, and rich, damp earth. Having always associated rain with renewal and growth, I have come to cherish listening to rain drum on my roof, flinging open the windows to fill the house with freshly washed air, and even taking long, soaking wet walks without an umbrella.  Luckily for me, I live in Washington, which averages over 27  inches of rain annually. This is an average, because my city gets over 50 inches a year, and the peninsula can get over a hundred!
      Granted, not all of my experiences in the rain have been amazing. I remember as a child, spending the autumn frantically hauling and stacking loads of firewood to keep our cozy little farmhouse, well, cozy. Usually half of that work was in the rain, and we would be moving loads of wood all day, with our leather gloves becoming sodden and muddy,the wood seeming to double in weight from the waterlogged moss still clinging to the rough bark, and the frantic ants, centipedes and spiders frantically seeking shelter from the wet. We spent the days soggy, cold, grumpy, and in terror that an earwig or spider would run up our sleeve. (They never did)
     At the same times in my life, however, rain has been a comfort, a blessing, a release. I remember the comforting rattle of rain on the roof, lulling me to sleep. Then, there's long walks through the woods, listening to the patter of rain on leaves, watching for frogs and salamanders and newts to play with.   I remember building little dams, bridges, and making leaf boats for the hundreds of little rills that would spring up on rainy days. For those of you who didn't amuse themselves by reading the dictionary cover to cover, a rill is a very tiny seasonal stream.
      I've never really used an umbrella, mostly because the summer after I watched Mary Poppins, I jumped off our roof several times, smashing beyond repair a succession of umbrellas until my dad threw up his hands in disgust and swore that he would never buy an umbrella again. Given that this was twenty years ago, he may have changed his mind, but I not only still wistfully look to the sky and wonder how to float off into it, I walk in the rain with no protection from it's sodden charms. While I might not ever use umbrellas, I do like them, especially this cool black steampunk umbrella, this awesome retro umbrella, and this amazing wrought iron decorated umbrella, on Etsy.
     While I love being in and listening to the rain, I can certainly understand why lots of people don't see the same attraction in being either trapped inside, or soaking wet and cold. Well, for the rest of you, here's a cute, fluffy little cloud that nobody could object to. For we rain-lovers, here's a sampling of amazing rain images and ideas that I yanked from my Pinterest.

Well, enjoy the rain, let it cleanse your spirit and leave you refreshed. Also, I'd love to hear your stories about rain, rain-related accessories and crafts, ect. Please comment and join the conversation!