It is POURING rain, my very favorite weather as long as I was planning to be home anyway. It makes everything feel more cozy, our critters curl up on the porch or in the shed on the pile of hay. There is no traffic at all, no outside noises intruding. There's only one gutter, we put it there years back to channel water into a barrel from the long front roof slope. So from any window, the rain can be seen running off in streams and in the corner where the added-on bedroom meets the main house, there is a waterfall.

The house leaks at times. Sometimes we need buckets scattered all through the house and others, like now, it can pour and not a bit of damp. Maybe the wind blows the rain in somehow...we can't find the source in the attic.

The kids are still sacked out. This low grey weather makes them lethargic and snuggly. We all want to be wearing something soft and loose, sweats or a fuzzy robe. No one complains when I make soup for lunch. They are content to be read to, to talk about anything.

I can hear birds in the huge white pine behind the house. Cardinals calling out 'cheer cheer cheer'! Okay, birdie! HOORAY!

The pine needles wash off the roof, making damp brown piles on the ground under the eaves. The pasture fills with mist as the rain slacks off. The pine needles and the small green leaves of the sweetheart bush outside my window hold the diffused light in the drops of rain. It looks like tiny white lights everywhere.