Rainy Days
I live for rainy days. Other people think I’m crazy. “Isn’t it a beautiful day!” They say on those bright sunny days that make me want to cover my eyes against the glare and retreat to some dark cave. “What’s beautiful about it?” I want to say, but don’t. No one else loves rainy days like I do and why should I cast my dark shadows on their pleasure?
Why do I like rainy days? Have you ever smelled a wet dog? Rainy days give me the perfect excuse not to walk my dog. I use those hours I snatch on the rainy day to think, pray, concentrate, read, and write. Time to be. And so much better than wet dog odor.
Why do I like rainy days? The roar of city traffic is muted by rain. Spring, summer, and fall rains make me feel like I am no longer in the city, but in the woods where I prefer to be. The patter of raindrops hitting the green leaves, and the drip, drip, drip, from the gutters are more pleasurable sounds than automobile engines. Even the sound of a splash as I walk through a puddle is lovely sound. E.e. cummings had it right when he called it “puddle-wonderful.”
Along with the sounds, the view changes in rain. I leaned long ago in a photography class that light has color temperatures (measured in degrees Kelvin for the person who discovered this phenomenon). These temperatures are a measure of the amount of heat applied to the perfect black radiator which absorbs all color. As the temperature is raised or lowered that black object radiates back different colors of light. Changes in color temperature make some colors “pop”. For example, the color temperature of sunlight is around 5500 degrees Kelvin. At that color temperature, to our eyes, everything looks normal. But lower that temperature to about 3200 degrees (incandescent light) and objects and people appear yellow, not necessarily to our eyes which tend to adjust for changes in light and color, but a camera will will convey the warmer tint unless you white balance or use a flash to simulate sunlight. During rain, the daylight color temperature rises from the 5500 degree sunlit temperature to 6000-10,000 degrees where colors have a cooler, bluish tint. “Cooler” is the operative word for me. I love cool colors and overcast skies and rain give those to me. That’s why greens appear greener on those overcast rainy days.
Why do I live for rainy days? Free time to accomplish great things, quieter sounds and cooler colors that suit me, and most of all, to have a change from the bright hot loooong days of summer when so much is expected of me. So take some time to listen to the drips and drops, relax in the greens and blues, and take time to reflect. Maybe someday one of you will join me in relishing the rainy day and together we can say aloud to the sun-lovers “What’s beautiful about your sunny day?”
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