Steady, hard rain blurring the transition from night to day. How much silence there’d be if it were snow. How much more light.
rain
January 17, 2023
Cold rain. The last scrap of December’s snow in the yard has shrunk to the size of a handkerchief. A back-and-forth between a titmouse and a chickadee.
January 3, 2023
Hard rain beginning to ease by late morning. Chirps and twitters become audible. The last patches of snow line the road like litter.
December 7, 2022
Thin fog/low clouds. It feels as if rain could start at any moment but does not. A Carolina wren nearly drowns out the sound of traffic.
December 6, 2022
In the cold drizzle, a squirrel looks less gray than silver, shining dully as she crouches under the fur umbrella of her tail.
December 3, 2022
Cold rain. Four chickadees in a high-speed chase around the yard pause in the lilac for a vociferous exchange of views.
November 30, 2022
Rain-slick trees green with lichen dance in a puddle’s punctuated sky.
November 25, 2022
Warm rain. The snow has shrunk to a few scrofulous patches in the woods. Half an hour before sunrise, a bluebird is singing.
November 12, 2022
A lull in the rains. The transition from a watercolor world to pencil-brown and charcoal-gray is nearly complete.
November 11, 2022
Steady drumming of rain on the porch roof. Dark trunks disappearing into fog. A classic November day.
October 31, 2022
A half hour after sunrise, a rattling in the fallen leaves: raindrops! Slowly accelerating into an actual shower. Which peters out much too soon.
October 13, 2022
Rain tapering off by mid morning. The sun even emerges for one or two seconds, setting off a crow.
October 2, 2022
Light rain seasoning the breeze. A squirrel perched on a swaying limb chisels open a walnut—that haunted-house sound.
October 1, 2022
A mid-morning break in the rain. The sun almost comes out. From up in the woods, the shrill panic of a squirrel just missed by a hawk.