Monday, May 4, 2009

Rainy Daze

It is so green out there. I think the trees behind my house are about to eat my fence. The lawn looks like a big green flokati rug and the weeds in the flower beds could possibly lead to a land of magic beans.

Sports are canceled. Dogs stay inside. It's harder to get things done. Normal things. It's just so rainy.

I tend to get obsessively involved with projects during long periods of rain like this. You really don't want to go outside so what else do you do? Turn on the music, light some candles and think of rainy activities.

Saige changed her whole room around yesterday. Chase talked Marc into buying him some sort of air pellet gun. Like most things they do together, I'd rather just not know. I'll go with decorating and working on my computer and sifting through collections of things.

Today I went through a lot of books. Kids books and adult books. I love looking at things I haven't seen in a while. I like looking at book collections almost as much as music collections. I think it gives the biggest hint of who someone is by seeing what books they read. I am (at least) a second generation book collector. My Mom always had tons of books. She was always reading. In fact I remember I spent a better part of my childhood saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom." I sounded like that teacher in Ferris Buellers Day Off. It was hard to get her attention when she was reading. Now that I have children I understand. Completely.

Besides the NYT bestsellers and the Jane Green/Jennifer Weiner genre chick lit my books are mostly on Art and doing Art and Yoga and doing Yoga, there are a bunch of quotation books thrown in there and quite a few decorating books and some on running and a handful on Buddhism and some Art therapy and Psychology left over from my short stint in grad school. That's pretty much who I am, right there. Oh and all my childhood Roald Dahl books. And Narnia and Harry Potter...

This was the first thing I read when I opened the first Art Journaling book. However Walt meant it I thought it was a little sign that was a reminder that the rain will stop. Like everything, it is only temporary. And then we will have pretty flowers and the bright yellow shiny sun.

“Wash the gum from our eyes and dress ourselves for the dazzle of the light.”
- Walt Whitman



Or maybe the light is right there in front of you all the time. All you have to do is recognize it.

12 comments:

Mark said...

Hi Amy,

I miss you so much. I know that's probably better saved for a personal email, but it was the first thing that came to my mind.

I'm a book collector, as well, but I've read at best 10% of the books on my shelf. I have a habit of buying 25 or so books every year, but with limited space in my apartment, every five years I purge. I'd have a great library by now if I had held on to all the books I have purchased. I love going to a bookstore, browsing and buying books. Sadly, I have very little time to read so most of my books go unread before finding a new home through donation.

Still, the books on my shelf say something about who I am... there are self-help books, cooking books, wine books, sports books, some classic fiction, some current NYT top 10 fiction, some gay books, several biographies, a few foreign language books, and several guilty pleasure Elizabeth Berg books.

As for the rain, I never understood why people dislike rain so much. I love it. Once, when I hesitated to get out of the car to run to the house, Dad remarked, "What, are you going to melt?" It made so much sense to me. What is there to dislike about rain. It's water. Water is a good thing. And, doesn't everyone like a good rainy day to stay inside end enjoy the peaceful sound of the rain, or the glorious, exciting sound of thunder? And, did you ever say, "what the hell" and go out in a heavy downpour without an umbrella to get soaking wet? I love the rain, just as I love the sun and the snow. It's all good. As you wrote, the light is always there in front of us if we are open to it.

Did I tell you I miss you? And that I love you? I do.

Your brother, Mark

Amy said...

Yours is one of my favorite book collections to look through. My favorite is the book I gave you that never gets read except by me when I stay your apartment. :)
Just like I love going through your Itunes and buying the ones I think you should have that you don't. :)
Your books and music are totally and completely who you are.

I love you and miss you too.

Meredith said...

I love the raindrops on their faces. I love it that you all read and love books as much as I do. I love the Whitman quote, and finally I love the new header. My, you're getting an awful lot of love here on this rainy (again) day.
Love, Mom

Sue Jacquette said...

I love you, too, Amy.

Kathy said...

One of my favorite "mommy" times was when my oldest was about 2 years. We were down at the Outer Banks. The temp. was high 70's and it was gently raining. She pointed out the window at the puddles forming and gave a big smile. So, out we went and spent the next hour splashing, twirling and laughing, soaked to the skin, loving every rain drop.

As for books.....Nothing says summer like 10 or more books stacked on the floor, next to the bed, their text just waiting to be discovered.

Anonymous said...

amy~the last sentence says it all for me.
i love your posts. and the book thing. i totally agree. if we could peer into our peers' book collections, it would shed so much light on the situation.

love you.

~jami

ps~chase and saige look awesome here.

twist said...

Oh. my. god. Your people are beautiful! They will do well, even with a mother who borrows books only to let them sit on her shelf for, oh, 5 years.

Anonymous said...

I like to sleep in...watch tv...and shop...oh yeah, and give you massages. Haha

Christy said...

I love books...I love your picture (what beautiful kids!)...and I love you. :)

Lula! said...

Your kids are gorgeous. Love your variety of books. (Roald Dahl...amazing...) Love your FABULOUS new header. And love all the green...as we are very green, too. Today makes 7 full days of non-stop rain. We're thisclose to floating away.

I tell you...we live in Forks...minus some hot Cullen boys.

Kathy said...

"I tell you...we live in Forks...minus some hot Cullen boys."

Lula! - Too funny! Thanks for the much needed laugh.

Anonymous said...

those kids are absolutely amazing. love your post. love the ww quote. love you. just like everyone else. i finally got you bookmarked on my mac...have you on my pc but kept forgetting on this one. where you should be.love ba