Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Everything is soggy

It's been raining hard for days now. Mist rises off the ploughed fields like smoke, and the gutters chatter and slosh, water patters on the roof and pushes the leaves on the trees down, so that everything looks sullen.
The sky is only shades of gray. Pale gray where the rain slackens, then dark as pewter and trembling with thunder above the storm.
When the rain stops, deer come out of the thickets and stand in clearings, their coats dark and wet. In the field, cows lie low, hugging the ground, stubbornly keeping their patch of grass dry. Pheasants stand beneath the ferns, lifting one foot after another out of the puddles.
The road to Paris was flooded last night. My husband left for work and returned - turned back by the police.
Today I lined my English students up in front of the window and taught them to sing "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!" They thought it was great incantations, and sang loudly as the rain poured down, nearly drowning out their frail voices.
The children were rewarded by a brief respite from the rain, and we rushed out to take the dogs for a walk around the village square, singing loudly all the time - "Rain, rain - Go away!"
I wonder what the neighbors thought?

6 comments:

Bernita said...

Charming description.
Neighbours probably thought "crazy Americans."

Rosie said...

Your description of the rain makes me long for gray clouds, a cup of hot tea, my quilt and a good book.

For me it's blue Fall skies and work I'm afraid.

Gabriele Campbell said...

You can have some of our clouds and rain. We sure got enough of the lot.

John Nez said...

Tres poetic... deer in the meadow & I like that part about the cows keeping the hay dry.

Gosh... wild boars, deer... I didn't know France still had wild animals like that.

That's a hopeful sign...

Sam said...

Bernita - I'm sure of it, lol!

Rosie, I'd love to send you some rain. :-)

Gabriele - we're near neighbors, weather-wise!

John, there are loads of wild animals around. We have a very good forestry ministry, and they are strict about protection and such. There is a lot of hunting, but the amount of animals culled is carefully controlled.

Gabriele Campbell said...

Sam, btw, there's naughty snippet time this Friday, so if you have something from your Alexander novel you'd like to share ... *wink*