Remember when we named the moons?
I just found this cool, related thing! And it’s so perfect.
I was catching up on posts from Suzette Haden Elgin (swoon!) and she was talking about rain and naming types of rain. Twenty-seven of them.
This was inspired by a writing-form from Ron Carlson called “The Twenty-Seventh Rain” …
“THE HITCHHIKING RAIN, almost cold, a rain we had to ignore as we faced Route 8 …”
And she liked it so much that she came up with her own run of rain names:
“THE DRAGON RAIN that chased us across the fields and down the roads and wrapped us all up tight in warm wetness.”
Awesome.
So — of course — how could I not do some rain-naming of my own?
Havi’s Rains
- THE RAIN OF THE UNENDING SOAKING while headed to work, wondering how to make bearable nine hours of standing behind the bar in wet jeans and squishy cold socks.
- THE RAIN OF THE PORCH SWING that is solid and steady but never cold, and is sometimes accompanied by a glass of something, no ice.
- THE RAIN THAT FALLS ON YOUR TENT when you have a sprained ankle and are half-hiding half-dozing under mosquito netting, dreaming of someone special to you. And then there they are.
- THE RAIN OF LATE FOR SCHOOL always makes you feel a little more guilty, drops falling from the ends of your braids.
- HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING RAIN when lightning strikes right above your head, and you and your gentleman friend realize as soon as you pick yourselves up off the ground that a quick run to the cafe was actually a terrible idea.
- THE RAIN OF APOLOGIES. I’m sorry.
- THE RAIN OF NOT HAVING ANYWHERE TO GO because you have nowhere to go and this has been true for so long, and ducking into Tomer’s cafe, knowing that someone will buy you a coffee or a beer eventually.
- THE RAIN OF HOPING NO ONE WILL NOTICE THAT YOU’RE CRYING.
- THE RAIN OF THE GREENHOUSE that gives you permission to spend another hour curled up with your book and your bear and some cushions.
- THE MISTY RAIN OF DANCING THE DANCE OF SHIVA BY THE OCEAN. This rain is so fine that it breathes on you through the trees. Have you done Dance of Shiva in the rain? It’s like being the rain, that’s how beautiful it is. As if you are a fish or a flower or a star. It is liquid math. It is the perfection of nature and I am being it and it is inside me and through me and around me and just me.
- THE RAIN OF WATCHING PEOPLE MAKE SCRUNCHED-NOSE FACES against it. Because it was so sudden that no one has an umbrella. And you are on a tiny covered bench, watching the nose-scrunching.
- THE RAIN OF REBELLION AND DELIGHT that comes while everyone is nose-scrunching and running for cover. There is one little kid in a striped shirt who walks slowly, looking up, with a delighted smile. His hands are moving around his head and his expression says: Look at this! Drops! On me! They tickle! How completely wonderful to be alive in this moment and have water drop on my face! Wheeeeeeeeee!
- THE COMING AND GOING THUNDERSTORM RAIN OF TAOS that gushes and stops, gushes and stops, while I write and write and write, leaning up against the wall of the room where Willa Cather listened to the rain too.
- THE RAIN OF THERE IS NO REAL WORK TODAY when you work in an orchard … and so you wake up blinking, knowing that the day will be slow and meandering, painting ladders and taking long breaks. Another mug of instant coffee on a red-checkered table cloth. Sorting screws and bolts. Missing the trees.
- THE RAIN OF WEARING A SCARF AND GLOVES IN JULY in Berlin — in July! — hugging the borrowed, soggy peacoat to yourself, wrapping yourself up in imagined warmth and knowing that California is waiting and that the money for the ticket will emerge from somewhere. Because it has to. Because you remember the winter. And your hands remember the feel of hauling up buckets of coal from the scary, scary, scary basement.
- THE RAIN OF YES I LIVE IN PORTLAND* that is so strangely gentle. Look, it’s raining. Again. Walking through it, hand in hand with my gentleman friend, it leaves drops on my eyelashes. It’s a pretty rain.
*My brother has a little ditty he likes to sing that goes like this (must be sung out loud): “I live in Portland, Oregon … I think it’s going to pour again …”
- THE RAIN THAT MAKES TINY HOLES IN MOUNDS OF SNOW.
- THE RAIN OF KNOWING YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE that is especially good for napping. But also for baking bread.
Play with me?
You totally don’t need twenty-seven. You don’t even need ten.
But five rains? Three rains? One rain?
Do you want to name rain with me?
It’s a pretty neat thing.
Follow
THE RAIN THAT STRANGELY SKIPS RIGHT PAST YOUR HAIR AND LANDS ON YOUR SCALP AND RUNS DOWN YOUR FOREHEAD.
THE RAIN OF GIGANTIC DROPLETS. Which splashes so forcefully on the sidewalk you can’t help but stand there and watch and wonder how the drops got so large.
THE RAIN OF THE ARK. With rain coming down so hard it’s forming rivers in the streets and the parking lots and you wonder if you really ought to have started building that huge boat.
THE RAIN OF COZY SECURITY. When you have nothing in particular to do and you just curl up in bed with a cup of tea and watch the raindrops, knowing that you are safe.
THE RAIN OF MY ANGER. When the pounding and the thundering and the pulsing, shaking skies express it so profoundly.
THE STORMS OF SADNESS. Grey, cloudy skies. Endless pouring. The rain is freezing cold, in this one. You need a coat to go outside, and an umbrella. And going outside is not even something you want to do. It’s just TOO COLD out there.
THE DRIZZLE I CAN HANDLE. When it’s just drizzle. That’s all. And I know where I’m going and it’s not too far away. And I’ll just run between the raindrops, and get a little wet, and it is okay.
1. THE RAIN OF CRUMBLING PAVEMENT where the water is rushing so fast down the street that it is literally tearing chunks of concrete off the curbs
2. THE RAIN OF SOGGY FLIPFLOPS where we weren’t expecting it to rain so hard and we were by the comic book shop when my shoes turned into literal water shoes
3. THE RAIN OF SLOPPY FROG walking to school and seeing the poor squished frog in the road; joking about “sloppy frog” and then they served sloppy joes for lunch and I went home with a stomach ache
4. THE RAIN OF THE WORMS any day when the ground releases the worms and there is that particular smell in the air, but most particularly one day on the bike path when the worms were so thick that it was like playing hopscotch to avoid stepping on them
5. THE RAIN OF PANIC when Ivan and that other hurricane went through and did a number on our roof, we had leaks *everywhere* and when I looked into the garage the water was running down the inside of the 2×4’s and of course Marty was at work and there was nothing to be done
6. THE RAIN OF GREAT RELEASE when we had had no rain for at least a month, maybe more, it was hot and dry and my spirit needed a good soaking; when the rain finally rolled in I stood outside, arms spread like Natalie Portman in that scene from V For Vendetta and just soaked in it
.-= Andi´s last post … Uses for Hand-Dyed Fabric Part I =-.
THE RAIN OF EXCUSES
THE RAIN OF SLUGS when they come out in full force and my morning walk turns into a hop as I try not to squish them and I keep having to stop because I just found one even more giant than the last giant one
THE RAIN OF WET DOGS when it rains so hard that I am soaked through and my dog is soaked through and the smell seems to follow me everywhere
THE RAIN OF THE BELOVED SUN when the sun shines through the rain and you can’t help but enjoy the droplets as they glisten in the sunlight
THE RAIN OF A COZY AFTERNOON when it feels like the sky is hurling buckets of rain at the ground and you have nowhere you have to be so you curl up in bed with blankets, a giant mug of hot cocoa, and a stack of books while listening to the storm outside
THE RAIN OF MIDWEST STORMS when the thunder rolls and sheets of lightning split open the sky above you so that you can hardly drive because you are so focused on the wonder and beauty of it all
.-= elizabeth´s last post … if at first you don’t succeed, paint again =-.
THE RAIN OF READING OUTSIDE, when it’s the middle of summer, and there’s thunder but still sunlight, and if you’re really lucky you’ll see lightning *and* a rainbow, but most importantly you huddle on the patio or the porch or that one little sliver of the front stoop that is protected by the roof, and you read in a thunderstorm and your book doesn’t get wet.
THE RAIN OF POO-ING OR GETTING OFF THE POT, when it’s been threatening rain for hours, if not days, and *finally* it makes up its mind and rains.
THE RAIN OF PLEASE DON’T STOP RAINING, when the fronts are about to shift and you know the second the sun comes out, you will have a blinding sinus headache.
.-= Laura G´s last post … In which I do things before I die =-.
Oooh… its like how the Inuit have a hundred types of snow (and living in Saskatchewan, I can believe that)…
Can’t see through rain — when it rains so hard to you can’t move or drive
Fog rain – rain so soft that it is almost fog
Biting Rain – bitter spring or fall rain that is almost frozen
Twirling Rain – warm dancable rain
.-= Pam´s last post … Another Time Away… =-.
The Oddly Appropriate Rain: when it’s a funeral and it rains, or when you’re in a horrible mood and sunshine would just feel like an insult, or when everything is going wrong and you’re standing on the corner waiting on the bus and it starts up.
The Thank The Gods It’s Raining Rain: when there’s a ceremony or event or something else you don’t really want to attend and the skies open up and provide an excuse.
The Storms of Release: similar to other already mentioned rains, this one happens when you’re so pent up and holding it all in, and then it rains and you cry or scream or breathe, and it subsides as you do.
The Ocean Rains: standing on the beach, watching the water from the sky touching the water of the earth, and the magick is so powerful you can barely breathe.
The Sexy Rains: where you’re cuddling with your lover, being sweet and connecting, and then the rain starts, and you can’t help yourselves, and you get pulled in and make love right there, wherever there is.
Mmm. Rain. (:
.-= Kyeli´s last post … An Unconventional Guide to Saving Lives =-.
Hee. I’m originally from the PNW. So I know all about naming rains. We used to say that Northwesterners had as many names for rain as Inuit had for snow…But this is cooler. Mine are typically tongue in cheek… can I make these more serious?
Let’s see…
Oregon Mist: Missed Oregon, hit Seattle. (oops, not serious with that one and I can’t even take credit, it’s my Mom’s quote!)
The Drowning Rains: Rains in Raleigh where it comes down so hard and fast that you can’t see to walk, let alone breathe. They call them “frog-stranglers” here.
The Energy Rains: When the thunderstorm is building and emanates energy that raises all the hair on your neck and gives you that feeling of “I can do anything”.
The *I Miss Home* rain: The rare occasions where rain in the Triangle area actually comes down gently and quietly like real Oregon Mist. It’s when I realize that as much as I love my home and land here in North Carolina, I still really really miss Oregon and Washington.
@Pam. I really love the Twirling Rain. Mind if I steal it? 🙂
.-= G. Romilly´s last post … 10 Inspirational Needlework Blogs =-.
These are outrageously great.
I keep finding new favorites!
The Drowning Rains
The Oddly Appropriate Rain (nice!)
Biting Rain
The Rain of Slugs
The Rain of Soggy Flipflops
It’s so so cool. And also just endlessly fascinating how much there is in this little exercise. Neat!
Yes, I’ll play!
Rain on the dot: the rain that soaks you in 3 seconds, about 15 minutes after you start wondering why all the locals have disappeared from the streets in a country where they have scheduled afternoon downpours.
Showering rain: a really good excuse for jumping under a long, hot shower after coming home soaked to the bone.
Inky blots rain: soaks through your bag and transforms all your scribblings into colourful inky stains.
Autumn stormy rains: especially good when it’s dark, you don’t have to go out and can curl up by the fire, under a blanket, with hot cocoa.
Horses of steel in the rain: you haven’t properly lived in The Netherlands if you’ve never ridden a bicycle in the rain.
– The rain of bathing in the lake at your grandparents’ place: wet all around! the best thing ever! wheeee!
– The rain of the outdoor show: when this group from Mauritius is playing sunny sunny stuff, and none of the soaking-wet-yet-smiling persons attending wants to leave even though it pours
– The rarely-occuring-and-lasting-no-more-than-one-minute rain in Esfahan: the one that causes your friend to give you a call as soon as it starts telling you to run outside – IT RAINS! – and lasts just long enough for you to catch its last drop even though you did indeed run
.-= Josiane´s last post … Retreating to write – and being treated to so much more =-.
And, let us not forget the “important paper soaking rain” that only happens when you need to be able to read said paper. Great post Havi, always enjoy reading them.
Dan
.-= Dan´s last post … Tomato to the forehead =-.
oo, this is fun.
THE RAIN OF LULLABIES: The kind of rain that soothes you softly to sleep.
THE CATS UNDER THE BED RAIN
THE 5TH BROKEN UMBRELLA RAIN
THE ROLLER COASTER RAIN: the kind of rain storm that makes you ooo and ahh.
LAUGHING RAIN: the kind of summer rain you get caught in with a friend which leads to running, laughing and getting soaked.
READING RAIN which might be quickly followed by the first rain. 🙂
.-= leah´s last post … Creative Every Day Challenge Check-In: August 17 – 23 =-.
http://lorilynh.typepad.com/between_dreams/2009/08/a-small-list-of-rains.html
I can’t believe how many different rains there are.
Southern California is the State of Perpetual Drought. What is this “rain” that you speak of? Water falling from the sky? How odd.
.-= Barbara J Carter´s last post … Dogs and Art Galleries =-.
THE MELANCHOLY RAIN THAT TELLS OF SWEET LOVEMAKING which quite unexpectedly reminds you of the beautiful moments shared with a lover you parted with for all the wrong reasons
THE FIGHTING THE STORM ON YOUR BICYCLE RAIN when you want to get home, you’re on a straight stretch of road, the head wind is almost forcing you to a stand still, laughing at your pathetic little human effort, and it just won’t stop drenching you
Oh, I have to share these two that I picked up from the locals when I was living in Scotland:
HORIZONTAL RAIN when you think they’re exaggerating, until it actually happens and slate tiles are flying about
LIQUID SUNSHINE soft rain while the sun peeks through the clouds from time to time
;o)
.-= Maarten Elout´s last post … European sweat lodge teachings =-.
Ooh, this is fun.
Ok, so…
The Rain of Time-To-Take-Care-of-Yourself: The type of rain that makes you too tired to work, and gently nudges you to take the day off and just take care of you.
The Wish-You-Were-Here Rain: A rain that leaves you feeling blue, and wishing They were here with you. This rain makes melancholy music that much moreso.
The Rain That Washes Away Ack: This rain gives your soul a good, gentle scrubbing, washing away all the stuff that’s been clinging to it.
The Gorgeous Sounding Rain: I hear this rain a lot during the fall, when a light rain falls on the leaves on the ground, which sounds like little drums playing a song. I can close my eyes and completely lose myself in the tink-tink-tinktinktink sound.
The Oh-Crap-Not-Today Rain: This is the sort of rain that falls when the day already sucks, and the last thing you want is more suck.
The Switcheroo Rain: You had plans outside. But it’s raining. So now you to get creative about what to do instead.
The Remember-The-Good-Parts-Of-Being-A-Kid Rain: This rain helps us to let go, to not really care that it’s raining. Like when we were a kid. Before we learned that we’re supposed to hate rain. It opens us up and leaves some freedom in that space.
.-= Fabeku´s last post … Biggie Size It. =-.
Fun! Lemesee:
The Rain of Irony — when you are fishing out on a boat in the middle of the Gulf, and it rains, and there’s no point in going back to the dock, so you just keep fishing, and you feel like the line between above the water and in the water is very thin, indeed. You wonder what the fish philosophers say about this situation.
The Rain of Clarity–when the rain washes all the pollution out of the air, and you can actually see downtown as you drive towards it, and everything sparkles, and you see how beautiful it is underneath, all the time, and it’s like a secret gift. And you hope you’ll learn to see the beauty underneath all the time.
The Rain of Really, Universe? Really? — when you have tied a knot in the end of the rope and are concentrating on holding on, and it. rains. And it feels like you, just you, are being singled out to be kicked when you’re down. Bonus points if the rain makes it nigh impossible to do the thing you’re trying desperately to do.
The Rain of Music–when the rain hits different parts of where you are so that there’s subtle rhythm and music that changes as you go to different rooms. A rain symphony!
The Rain of Getting a Rain Day Off From School–when it rains so hard in the desert that all the schools send everyone home. Too much fun! Also the rain most likely to make people who live where it snows a lot stare at you in incomprehension.
The Rain of Cows–when on your drive home, a truck carrying cows turns over because of the rain, and you get the surreal experience of driving carefully around cows wandering about on the freeway offramp. Also getting to watch people run around in the rain, on the freeway, trying to round up said cows.
Well ~ I live in the UK, where the weather forecast is merely measured in degrees of rain.
Here are some rain types that I know:
THE RAIN OF THE FORTUNATE SMUGNESS – When the rain beats such a fearsome rhythm on a flat roof or window that it interrupts conversations and causes all present to glance across at each other with knowing grins.
THE GREAT RAIN OF KING CANUTE – When it rains so hard and heavy that it would be slightly drier to seek shelter in a small lake ~ when the moisture situation is so far beyond serious that it’s come full-circle and actually makes you giggle, so you turn your mocking face to the heavens and exclaim “Is that all you got? Come on. I dare you! RAIN SOME MORE.” And then it does.
THE RAIN OF THE SPARE UNDERCRACKERS – This is a form of cyclist’s rain. The Rain of the Spare Undercrackers is rain that would otherwise flex its defiant might, but gives up the ghost once it realises you have a full change of clothes and underwear safely tucked away in your waterproof backpack. It usually reduces to a fine mist in a vain attempt to get through the hole they make for your headphones.
THE FOOL’S RAIN OF THE WATERY EYE – This type of rain lets you know that it was a dumb move to shave your eyebrows off for a laugh.
THE CRUEL AND LINGERING RAIN OF UNKNOWING SHAME – This rain is definitely not your friend. It’s a long-lasting rain that collects in places it knows it can do most harm – usually seats or benches. This rain is especially hard to spot for the weary and unsuspecting traveller, and will leave on the victims’ clothing damp marks of an unspecified and possibly unsavoury nature. Whereas other types of rain dry invisibly, this malevolent rain will typically leave a crispy beige stain.
THE CHEAPSKATE’S RAIN OF TRUTH – Much misunderstood, this is a helpful rain – similar to Consumer Rain (The rain that lets you know it’s time to buy new trainers.) It produces a small disk of misty condensation on the inside of a watch face, handily informing you that the expensive Designer timepiece you bought over the Internet isn’t nearly as waterproof as they made out in the listing.
THE RAIN OF FUTURE LOVERS – This rain is programmed to occur invariably on a successful first date. This is helpful ~ as it usually leads to shared giggling, involuntary closeness, heat transfer and garment swapping (sometimes just garment removal.) By a cruel twist of fate, this rain can also unexpectedly turn to the Cheapskate’s Rain of Truth, which is why you should never wear a watch on a first date – some things are too important to measure, and should just be experienced.
THE LOVER’S RAIN OF SECRETS – Following the Rain of Future Lovers, this helpful rain is one that has the power to turn every car window to a deep frosted smudge, through which none can pry. It can only partially mask sounds, and can do little about loose suspension settings, however.
THOR’S LONG DARK RAIN OF THE SOUL – This is an extreme storm rain. This is rain so severe that your petrified dog (who was previously looking to you for confirmation that he would actually see morning) petitions the hamster for a vote of ‘no confidence’ in you as Pack Leader, as you are currently under the bed with him.
.-= daftasabrush´s last post … ifitwaseasy: I’m living in my own little world right now, but it’s OK — they know me here. =-.
THE RAIN OF ABANDON when you saunter face upturned to enjoy a warm deluge because really, everyone around you who’s running is still getting just as wet as you are.
.-= claire´s last post … Gettin’ My Groove On… (vol. vi) =-.
The Rain of Release – When it’s been so hot for days that you’re actually welcoming it.
The Rain of Falling Fast Asleep – Gently nudging you to sleep, it keeps you cool as you dream.
The Rain of Sharing an Umbrella with a Friend – Smelling each other, walking close, giggling and jumping over puddles.
The Rain of Perfect Timing – When the garden is thirsty, the rain will come and there’s no better timing.
This was so much fun Havi. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
.-= Nathalie Lussier´s last post … Schizandra and the Gates of Mu Book Review =-.
The Rain of Missing Someone
The Rain of The Window
The Rain of Muddy Soccer
The Rain of Unexpected Reflections
The Rain of Dark Sidewalks
The Rain of Walking In-Between Drops
The Rain of Hissing Car Tires
The Rain of Pine Needle Carpet
The Rain of Sagging Gutters
The Pounding Rain of Need rebounding from the dry, thirsty cracked earth, showering my legs with dusty splatters.
The Rain of Confusion because the sky is clear and the sun is beaming brightly.
The Rain of Forgiveness that shimmers on the skin like dew on a humid summer morning hanging in the air.
The Rain of Fools Gold that starts and stops abruptly and continuously throughout the day, with the sun playing strip tease between each stop and start.
.-= Minerva´s last post … Conversation with Resistance Part Deux =-.
Japan edition:
Bottom Pedal Rain, or I can’t believe they are making me ride to work on a borrowed old bicycle in a typhoon even though it is only my third day on the job and my second week in the country and how can I sit in an office all day when I am wetter than I have ever been in clothes in my life, and is it even remotely safe to ride a bike with my feet splashing through flowing water on every down stroke?
Travelers’ Stories Rain that makes everyone whip out the most exotic locale in which they were ever rained upon, except for one level-headed friend who remains unimpressed and points out that they have some pretty heavy rain in Virginia, too, and would everyone please just get over themselves.
Glaze Rain that makes the rocks in the gardens and the cobblestones and inlaid tiles in the streets of Kyoto glisten like maybe they aren’t actually meant to be seen any other way.
Mass Hysteria Non-Rain Rain is barely a mist or maybe a few little drops that don’t add up to anything, but somehow everyone is hunched under their umbrellas as if it were actually raining because everyone else is. Carrying a rolled umbrella will cause everyone to look at you confused and you will feel a bit smug about being able to judge for yourself whether or not it is actually raining.
The Rain of Subway Stair Traffic Jams and Reproach makes each person stop at the top of the crowded steps to put up his or her umbrella, and it makes you hate each one of them and mutter things like “would the %&#* world really end if you stepped out from under the awning first and then put up your %&#* umbrella?!” and then when it’s finally your turn, and you stride past and put up your own umbrella while walking as an example and then feel guilty for being like that and not just waiting patiently like everyone else.
Tourist Obligation-Absolving Rain is a gift on weekends that removes any traces of guilt from staying home and reading a novel or watching a movie (in English) and not looking for new places and cultural experiences to explore.
Plum Rain is what rainy season rain is actually called in Japanese and there is no way to improve upon it.
.-= Sandra´s last post … No goldfish were harmed in the making of this drink =-.
Er, That Was Way Longer Than I Intended and Now I’m a Bit Embarrassed Rain.
.-= Sandra´s last post … No goldfish were harmed in the making of this drink =-.
@Sandra – these are awesome. You are a Writer!
And all of these are so much fun.
I am so enjoying the glimpses into different lives, seasons, places.
Also THOR’S LONG DARK RAIN OF THE SOUL should totally be a band (it’s just one guy!)
Goldilocks Rain: you get to the office on a rainy morning and you line up your umbrella with the others to dry, and there’s a papa umbrella, mama umbrella, and baby umbrella.
The Rain of “No, it’s OK, I’m Not Sweet Enough to Melt”: it’s raining, but not hard, and everybody says “You’re walking four blocks? In this rain? Why, I must give you a ride. You can’t walk in the rain! Just wait here twenty minutes and I’ll bring my car around.”
MoMA Rain: it’s raining and you’re carrying your museum of modern art ‘sky umbrella’ and feeling mighty pleased that you’re carrying your own blue sky with you. Yesssss.
Izzit Relly Rain: from inside the building you can tell the sky is grey, and it’s been raining, but you can’t tell if it’s, you know, really raining right then. Requires hunching up next to a window and watching the passers-by. If people are frowning and covering their heads, it’s actively raining. If people are just frowning, then you can go out without the umbrella!
Love this list idea and love Suzette Haden Elgin too.
I have only two to contribute at the moment, maybe more if I take some time:
Swimming Pool Rain (thanks to Josianne for the Lake Rain) when you’re in a swimming pool and it’s raining
In the Soup Rain, as when you’re in Chicago for a conference during the summer and you’re running back to your dorm room in the rain that is as warm as soup and so thick that you get drenched within minute and then there’s no point in running anymore, you might as well saunter
.-= Waverly´s last post … Lavender Cheesecake =-.
Rain of the Ancestors
A southwestern monsoon, the kind with thunder that shakes the windows and lightning that forks from cloud to cloud as well as cloud to ground, that makes it abundantly clear why our ancestors believed in gods.
Clothesline Rain
A summer rain that crosses the pond or meadow one sheet of water after another, like bedsheets flapping on the clothesline.
The Breezeway Rain
Rain that just sits within a short distance, moving nowhere but down, so you can actually walk through the narrow band of drops before you realized you got wet.
Windshield Rain
The few drops on your car windshield that you’re not sure if they came from the clouds or the guy cleaning his windshield just ahead of you.
Office Rain
Rainn Wilson. Sorry, bad joke, couldn’t resist.
This is not playing, so much as an observation of the same topic occuring in my life in the space of a week. I just finished reading ‘The Probable Future’ by Alice Hoffman, in which one of the characters has names for the different rains.
For instance Daffodil rain is light, easy to walk in rain. Rain of fishes is heavy, drenching rain.
Just remarking on the coincidence.
———
Actually, I do have one rain to share.
DANCING RAIN – A medium rain that falls on a warm night in Sydney, which inspires a new friend declare that it should be danced in, and reminds you for the first time in years that the small moments of life are to be enjoyed without concern for whether it is ‘proper’ or not.
The fact that said friend died unexpectedly a month later makes this particular rain all the more special.
.-= Karinne´s last post … Last week: Growth, reflection and pretend badgers =-.
I Know You Rode Your Bike To School Rain – The kind of rain that leaves a black paint ball mess on your backside that you can’t see until your friend leans over, whispers it in your ear and then your face gets hot.
Havi,the Aleutian Aboriginals have some 200+ different names for snow. SW Aboriginals–M. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn describes the sacred importance of names.
If you don’t know of Ludwig Wittgenstein, I highly recommend his works, and works by his students and colleagues. His philosophy encompasses language, meaning, the mind, much more–truly brilliant stuff. Dense reading, even in English, but well worth it for the connection among language, justice, meaning, society, and NAMING!!
Wittgenstein and Justice by Hannah Fenichel Pitkin is a good one to start.
Must be the Shivanautics–naming is certainly a connection between language and the mind. 🙂
Oh, and most of all, a connection with the divine!
One to add, and this one I enjoy occasionally when it’s practical, and frequently when it isn’t.
THE ‘I HAVE NO FEAR OF THE RAIN’ RAIN – As we all know, when you progress through kidulthood to adulthood, life becomes less about the obsession to become a race driver, and more about the obsession to achieve commendable fuel consumption statistics. During this process, several things happen for no discernable reason – like hairs that sprout from places that don’t make any evolutionary sense – involuntary groaning sounds that happen when you pick up even very light objects – and the realisation that you no longer own anything that glows in the dark (insert your own examples here).
This rain unashamedly puts it’s thumb to its nose, waggles its fingers and says ‘Na na na na na’ to all that.
Shhh. Listen. You can hear it whispering from the glistening climbing frame, the damp see-saw and the watery swing seat. It’s a call to arms to resist your irrational fear of all things soggy. It says “Hey – there’s a big wet tree – let’s shake it and see what happens”, “Go ahead – it’s a slide – use it. You never liked those suit trousers anyway” or “Hmmm. Just how deep is that puddle?”
Why do we need to save up other things to do for rainy days? This rain is its own reward.
BOUNCY RAIN – the rain which falls so hard, it bounces back up.
THE RAIN OF A THOUSAND needles – pricking your face as you cycle downhill on a recumbent bike.
WOOHOO, I HAVE HYDRO ELECTRICITY rain.
.-= judyofthewoods´s last post … Foraging in June =-.
DANCING BUBBLE RAIN – heavy rain making bubbles which swirl around on endless puddles like dancers on a ballroom floor.
BUBBLE SHOE RAIN – where there is no longer any point in avoiding the puddles, where instead you enjoy watching bubbles pushing out of the seams of your shoes.
DECEPTIVE RAIN which drums on the plastic conservatory roof and pretends to be a lot heavier than it really is, like its raining right now.
.-= judyofthewoods´s last post … Foraging in June =-.