It’s been raining for seven days straight. It started with temperatures in the seventies and as the storm pushed through it was closely followed by temperatures in the thirties! The air at ninety-seven percent humidity suddenly becoming so quickly chilled causes it to condense on the inside of the window panes.* Like a cold drink in summer it collects and runs over the panes and down to the sill. The windows were wiped four times day before yesterday, and still it collected.
The wind blew, the rain kept coming, and it has just stopped raining as I type. The heavy clay has become a mire, slick, slimy and dangerous. It has rained so much that the earth could no longer take it in. The rain fell and then lay in an inch deep sheet covering the surface of everything on the ground, then flowing to the lowest places it sat and produced puddles and ponds where none should be.
There is more rain predicted, ‘freezing rain’, ‘chance rain’, and ‘possible snow’ as the day continues, and all of it under leaden skies.
We needed the rain after all those summer days of drought, but getting it all in one go is hard to take. These endless gray days seem to seep inside you, make you sad, dull your senses…
I dream of spring and a sunny day.
Today the sky is throwing little frozen snowballs down to earth.
Some the size of peas
They collect in the crevasses, and pretend they are snow…
In the meantime,
I keep the little lights on to chase away the dark that lurks in the corners,
and Benny Goodman is keeping me motivated not to just crawl under the covers and sleep the winter away.
Benny Goodman Sextet, with Peggy Lee singing
On The Sunny Side of the Street
😉
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*The inside humidity would not normally have been equal to the outside humidity, but for the smoking dinner in the oven three nights ago, which set off the smoke detector, thus causing us to open the windows and doors to clear the air. The smoke cleared, but the open house let the hot, wet air in. With the house then closed the outside temperature plummeted forty degrees in less than two hours and this caused the inside condensation to occur. We learned our first year here, that too much moisture allowed to sit on the sills will cause mold to grow there.
😐
Life on the Farmlet 
It can be enormously depressing, that number of rainy days in a row. I think I prefer snow but not sure. We had a huge fall yesterday and that isn’t normal in this part of France! Hope you dry out soonest but the cold weather isn’t going to help the land to drain. Keep warm!
Annie, I think I like the snow too. Although the year we go eight inches was kinda weird for this California ex-pat. The freezing weather may not drain the soil, but it will freeze it solid so I won’t slip and sink! 😉
Nice writing, I enjoyed it very much. So did I with Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman. Love your picture with the two tea-pots.
Thank you, Chantal! I am loving BG this winter. The teapot on the right was a surprise gift from a dear friend in Chicago!
I am happy to say that it has stopped raining here and we haven’t had a drop for a week so you have my sympathy but I can’t share your pain because we are so cheerful for the moment. (Snow is forecast for tomorrow.) I hope the mould is controllable.
Tom, it is snowing and thundering right now. I have heard of this but never experienced it before! As for sunshine, well the weatherman has been throwing darts for over a week and missing, but he positively promised us sunshine and part sun for the next few days. We shall see! As for the mold, I wipe the water when I see it, and then at the end of the season I take a Q-tip dipped in beach and wipe down the crevices. It seems to keep it at bay. 😉
So glad you are getting weather you love!
I look forward to some exciting pictures.
No snow, it all melted. 😦 The sun did shine for a few hours today, and hence the reason we have no more snow. 😉
Been raining a lot here too, so my husband wanted to try his new carpet shampooer. Seriously. Two days to dry. That being said, he does vacuum and mop the floors, now shampooing as well. Retirement is grand.
“Retirement is grand.”
Not sure how to read that last bit, Janet. 😉 Bob helps some, but mostly with the really heavy jobs.
It snowed and thundered here! Such strange weather we are having.
Cabin fever seems to be catching lately, but Joss has some lovely spirit-lifting, heart-warming photos that may just help…
http://crowingcrone.com/2013/01/16/winter-morning/
Oh, and speaking of helping, a spritz of vinegar the next few times you wipe down those steamy windows will help stop that nasty fungus dead in it’s tracks; )
HUGS! Deb
Thank you for the Joss link and for the Polly’s Pointer to use vinegar! I will be trying that right away, since I use of for everything else too! 🙂
No problem! (Glad to be of assistance: )
I’m kind of done with the rain… It’s been wet, muddy and dreary for too long now. Looking outside right now the sky is a gorgeous blue and it’s so nice to see after all those gloomy days.
Yes, Anke! Wasn’t that sun breaking through just the best?
😀
Great pic of the lamp and teapots. I am glad you got rain- much better than a drought. We had rain here in central Texas for about 2 days. Lots of rain. But we needed the rain and most people are very grateful that it maybe it has broken the drought cycle in our state. There was thunder when is was really cold and raining- the weather is very strange with the global warming.
Yvonne, your drought in Tejas was the worst I have ever heard of! I have many blogger friends who live there, and I’m always glad to hear when Tejas gets a bit of rain!
It is nice to know that people in other states had learned of our plight with the drought.
Trust me, you problems there were epic, and we knew about it. You will need lots more rain to make up for all that loss. I’m praying you get it too! (but not all at once!!!) 😉
Sorry that is supposed to be Texas not Teas. Guess I was thinking of your teapots in the photos.
Fixed!
(Yes, tea on a cold winter day will fix everything… 😉 )
That is some rain. We have snow predicted, but I’d rather snow than rain. Hoping you can stay warm and dry in your home!
Emily, enjoy your snow! We had just a bit, and then the sun broke through and made it dissappear! Now we are getting overnight lows in the teens and twentys for several days… 🙂
Oh well, at least there will be sunshine!
It’s been raining in Virginia just as much and snow is predicted for later tonight. Ick!
Nancy
Oh sorry, Nancy! Up in your area it will probably be deeper and stick too. Yes?
Strange weather we are having ‘down under’ too, Lynda. We are alternating between very hot days, strong blustery wind (at times) and then very cool days.
Sounds like some more drainage pipes next summer could be the answer, but in the meantime, enjoy the rain – it won’t last forever.
Victoria, this is unusual for our area, and we never get rain that goes on for days like this. We normally get rain that is monsoonal for a few hours and then dissipates. Out here in the country, there will be no extra drainage pipes. We have levy roads and ditchbanks! 😉
Anthony loves Benny Goodman!
Oooh, Julie, do you bring him Benny Goodman music to listen to, and to cheer him up? 😀
waiting on the black ice here so they can either call off school or delay it an hour or so. We’ve had so much rain that the runoff across the roads can’t possibly dry. Northeast Georgia mountains.
Margaret, We’ve had two hour delays for school starting here. Today when it started to snow they sent the kids home because they expected hazardous road conditions. Soon as the girls down the road got off the bus it quit snowing! LOL! (BTW, I HATE black ice!)
I’m about to feel your pain. The weatherman tells us that we’re going to get the monsoon trough coming through tonight – oh well, no sun for me for a while 😦
Dianne, How long do your monsoons last???
A few months! I’m worried now because we need to move the house and they said, “as long as the monsoon doesn’t hit” – dang it! 😦
OH DEAR! 😦
I saw on the local weather that you were having some weird weather! Tomorrow and Saturday will be in the 60’s here! Can you believe that? I’ll be outdoors for sure!
Lori, after the strange highs and lows here, well, yes I can. I hope Daisy comes for a visit while you are out!
We still need not just inches more rain, but feet more rain. It’s amazing how many stock tanks and ponds still are about half-empty. And many of the lakes are below pool. The continuing drought has shifted the migration patterns, too – many of the birds I enjoy in the winter, like the geese, have headed farther east where there’s water.
Of course, I’m one who loves long, gray stretches – especially if there’s fog,too. That’s the best! But I know how many people don’t like or actually suffer during winters. So funny – we’re almost at the end of any possible “winter” and so many people are praying, “Bring it on!” There’s only a month more before it will be time to prune the roses and get ready for the heat.
I know of your epic drought and it worries me. You have had a few promises of rain, but as you say, none were enough to cure your problem there in Texas! I get excited whenever I see that you all get even a little bit of rain… I just wish it were more, Linda!
I can’t believe you are almost into summer weather! We won’t see anything like it until June. Although, last year we did get summer in spring…
I found those tiny snowballs covering the mulch in the bed following a storm last summer. Seeing white made me do a double-take, just not right for that time of year.
In summer? No kidding! Wacky weather everywhere.