Thursday Thoughts...

“What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in the forest, at night, cherished by this wonderful, unintelligible, perfectly innocent speech, the most comforting speech in the world, the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges, and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows! Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, this rain. As long as it talks I am going to listen.” 

 Thomas Merton

It's kind of funny to choose this quote at this time of year - it has been hot and pretty dry for a while; the odd storm has gone by, but we wait for the summer rains. Perhaps when the summer rains come I will need to be reminded of the beauty of them - sometimes they overstay their visit!

Still I have always loved the words of Thomas Merton and can understand this homage to the rain; to the gentle conversation it creates. When the rains come I often lie in bed and feel they truly tell me I am home - this place on the mountain with a metal roof. The sound of a rain on a metal reef is very comforting.

It often reminds me of a heartbeat, the regularity, the thrum, the rhythm - whatever it is, it feels like I am home when I hear it, and that all is well with the world.

I shall try to remember if the rain sets in over summer - that as long as it talks, I am going to listen.

Looking across to the shed/studio during a downpour. Must have been a late winter one as the frangipanis are still bare. I do like their coral-like form over winter...