It's raining!

Miracle of miracles - it's raining! We woke up in Monroe this morning (spent the weekend with Doug's parents) to see the rain splashing on the skylight. It was heavenly. And now, back in Dedham, we are listening to the rain splattering on the street outside, and a cool breeze is blowing through the windows. Now this is a lovely summer night.

Things on my mind tonight, as the weekend comes to a close and I'm looking another week straight in the eyes:

* Weight Watchers? I'm giving it considerable thought. I'm really not looking to lose weight, but I am looking to get a grip on eating. I find that I eat when I'm bored, and when I want to be somebody else, both of which are happening more and more these days. And when I'm in these frames of mind I don't make good food choices. Being held accountable could be helpful.

* Six Feet Under. We've started this series. Back in 2003, I watched the first two seasons of this show in one weekend, but never finished the rest of the seasons. Now, because Doug and I are on a major Dexter kick and when we first started to watch Dexter all I could do was think of Michael C. Hall as David Fisher, we are watching this series. There are many parallels between shows, and between characters. Our DVD player is getting a lot of use.

* Nantucket. When we were at the art show last weekend we saw many paintings of Nantucket (and my mother even bought one). Now I want to go. And I want to spend time biking around the island. So this week I plan to scope out B&Bs and look at the calendar to see what weekend could be good this fall. I've got to get Doug there; the scenery is great and who knows how much longer we'll be able to enjoy it.

* Pets. We still haven't gotten a third cat, and we haven't gotten a dog. We are having second thoughts about the addition. Meg has come out of her shell quite a bit since Wyatt's passed away. She sits on the bed next to me at night. She's always on the couch with us. She is now asking for love in an active way, which she never really did when Wyatt was around, preferring Wyatt to get what he wanted and needed. We worry that if we had a third cat that Meg would go back to being passive. We like Meggie being more direct. We want an environment where she can feel comfortable. So for right now - no third cat. And no dog. But, you know. Things can change, so we'll keep you posted.

I think we're caught up. That's all that's on my mind. I'm going to go listen some more to the rain. I love this sound.

Please rain (but not during the day next week).

We need rain. We need rain big time here in our little area of the state. We already have a mandatory two-day-a-week watering ban, but I don't think that's being observed by everyone (some people's lawns are suspiciously green, but I assure you, ours is not). The ban could be upped to more days, and I wish it were. I'm getting nervous about how dry it is around us. Not only is the grass as brown and dry as straw, but the plants are brown, most of the flowers are wilted and not blooming, and if you do water anything the water doesn't soak in. It just runs through the soil, which is as fine and sandy as, well, sand at this point. Just four weeks ago, when my mother and brother came up to help with the fence, we planted a series of new plants in our newly cleared out side garden. One of them was this daisy plant. Note that I took this photo a couple of weeks ago, and trust me, this plant looks healthy compared with how it looks now. The weather forecasters keep predicting rain and thunderstorms for our neck of the woods, but we never get anything. Every once in a while we get a drop or two, but nothing more than that. And I'm not really exaggerating. It's incredibly, incredibly dry, and each day when I look at the sun I tell it to go behind some rain clouds and come back again when the ground is nice and soaked and the plants have had their fill.

Of course, I want rain but I don't want rain next week, especially in the day time. That's because we're on vacation and we've got lots planned! One of the things we hope to do is a day trip to Isle au Haut. I've become obsessed with this little island recently and must get there. Must hike along the trails on the part of the island preserved in Acadia National Park. Must take the mailboat to get there. Must be outdoors.

We'd also like to see some puffins, and apparently on Machias Seal Island you can take puffin tours. Sign me up for one of them, please! Doug and I have been toying with the idea of trying out birding, and what better way to start than by seeing puffins.

But lest you think that we'll be outdoorsy and active all week, I will remind you that we plan to eat well, too. I'll be carving out a bit of time for a slice (or two) of pie at Moody's Diner, and doing my part for Europe's economy by purchasing some imported treats at Morse's. I prefer the imported candies, but I'm sure some sauerkraut will make its way home with us. Doug is not one to refuse fermenting cabbage.