After the holiday hoopla, a rainy Saturday is what I needed to wind down. Even the birds and squirrels took a break and snuggled in their nests during the downpours, waiting for a lull in the rain, except for the first robin of the season, who hoped to find worms when the sun appeared. Some folks get the blues on gloomy days, but I welcome them as a chance to relax—look at old photographs or take new ones of the foggy landscape, play Mahjongg on the computer, do some light cleaning around the house, or park myself on the couch to watch old movies.

While looking through photos on camera memory cards, I came across some foggy-day pictures from New Year’s Day a couple of years ago. Walter took me for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway here in Virginia when the fog was so thick we could barely see the curves coming up on the mountain roads. I was a bit nervous about it all, but Walter is an excellent driver, having driven for a living for so many years, and he found the challenge exhilarating. Amid the fog, we could see rainstorms falling from the clouds across the mountains.  

Let’s talk about spending a rainy day watching movies. Two of our all-time favorites are Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, both starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Other movies we watch over and over again are Me Before You, 5 Flights Up, The Bucket List, Field of Dreams, For the Love of the Game, Hidden Figures, and The American President. Binge-watching Chicago PD or NCIS on a rainy afternoon with hot buttery popcorn can’t be beat either. If I am on my own for the day, I might tune in to a Hallmark Mystery or pull out one of my beloved DVDs: The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman, New in Town with Renée Zellweger, Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, or The Mask of Zorro starring Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Any day is perfect to watch a good movie, new or old.

If you have a significant other, rainy days can be snuggle days or an opportunity to take a romantic walk under an umbrella with your sweetie. Many years ago, I was shopping at a secondhand store, and a watercolor painting caught my eye. I had to buy it to hang in my front hallway. I named the painting Love in the Rain.

Love in the Rain
A Watercolor Painting
by Dee Bowlin

Past rows of rain-laden evergreens 
and a procession of picket fences 
surrounding stone cottages,  
lovers stroll under one umbrella,
protected from the showers
with their overcoats and hats,
needing only one another.  
Arms entwined and huddling close, 
they share intimate thoughts while
dodging puddles in the walkway.
Fleeting clouds separate to allow 
fingers of sunshine to sneak through, 
preparing a drier path up ahead.  

Not a new image or photograph,
but a painting covered in dust
in the corner of a resale shop,
begging to be hung in my hallway. 
The watercolors perfectly 
blended, as if the rain had
seeped under the glass.
An original masterpiece carefully 
matted and framed by hand,
but with no artist’s signature.
No one to thank for splendid
love on a rainy afternoon.

I realize those who work all week look forward to good weather on the weekend, but I hope you make the most of those rainy days. They can turn out to be the best day of the week! It helps to be retired like we are.