Fabulous Friday

Friday. Friday morning. Friday is special to me and has been for over 38 years. (But I'm not telling why!) First thing out the door this morning, I heard the familiar Pileated Woodpeckers' odd call. We have many in the neighborhood due to the abundance of trees which, somehow, apparently assist the ample number of carpenter ants around here with their life's work--DESTRUCTION. They're often followed by termites and MORE DESTRUCTION. (ANOTHER POST, PERHAPS. Maybe not.) Carpenter ants are one of the woodpecker's "listed" favorite foods. Just so you know the facts.

The humidity was abundantly evident this over-cast morning--not as oppressing as the 100% humidity yesterday morning, but still enough to be uncomfortable--as I took a young friend to work. After dropping her off, I moved further west, not far, to pick up a couple of grocery items and a little cash before heading back home.

Returning to my car I noticed the heavy laden gray clouds to the east pierced with a few subdued golden shafts of sunlight erupting slightly right of my center-view. Nice effect for morning, I thought. As I began to drive through the parking lot to leave, I noticed blue patches of sky framed by fluffier, thinner, contrasting white clouds in the west. I turned east heading home. Minuscule water droplets suddenly began appearing on the windshield. The further I drove, the more frequent the droplets. Before long I could hear the raindrops landing with increasing regularity. The road began to glisten with its newly acquired layer of moisture. After turning north, an occasional huge drop of rain dripped from an overhanging tree branch to splat on my windshield along with the increasingly frequent smattering of tiny ones. The raindrops increased in intensity the further I drove. Hmmmm. Another east-to-west pattern--that's different, I thought. Usually it's the opposite.

TS Edouard--Why again, did they forget the "o" at the end? I mutter to myself. Often.--came in the traditional way--counter-clockwise--east-to-west earlier in the week. We prayed for rain. Edouard(o), passed us by with nary a drop. Glad it never became a hurricane, however!

So, when I got home I thought: Wow! RAIN! Actual, water falling from Heaven! I'm so grateful! The grass is burning up, along with a plethora of other what-should-be-green growing things. I'm SO grateful for the rain. I won't have to water today! (I'm sure our water bill will be at least triple the norm as it is.) I feel particularly blessed because I haven't done anything particular to have this prayer answered!

Then I thought another minute. Hmmmm. Well, I did get my husband's truck washed yesterday. I did water all the plants. We are going off this weekend. And, of course, I did pray for rain--not terribly fervently--but I DID pray for some.

At any rate, when I got to the house, I got out in the rain--sans umbrella--pushed the garbage can out to the road, then got the few groceries out and brought them inside. I had water trickling down my head to my neck. The shoulders and back of my shirt were rather damp. A couple of minutes later I hugged my daughter before she went through the door on her way to work. She stopped, grimaced slightly, then wiped off the excessive moisture I'd unwittingly left on her cheek/chin. Oh! Sorry! See you Sunday. Have a great day.

At least she smiled and said, "Bye, Mom. You and Dad have a great weekend."

And maybe we just will! I know I'm happy it rained--and it's supposed to continue doing so. Good start, right?