Rainy day - past and present

I drove home through a light rain shower this afternoon. Using my wipers intermittently, I pulled into the garage without getting wet and entered the house to ecstatic greetings from the puppy-dog. She's a happy girl most of the time, but she's nervous in storms. Luckily, there's no thunder - just a gentle cloudiness and misty rain - or I'd have to huddle in the corner of my closet, under the clothes, cuddling my shivering furry friend.

I have been carefully considering Wise crow's request for a spiritual post, and while I continue to stall, I'm heading once again to the back-up plan and some pictures! Yay for pictures! I haven't made it through even a fraction of my Kyoto photos, and though I don't plan to post all of them, they're still fun for me to glance through. I like clicking on my bookmark and seeing images appear among the text.

So when I went to my office to find the pictures in my files, I was drawn to one of the rainy days in Japan. I had trekked out of town on a bus with 3 boys - past and present members of my research group. We wanted to see the Golden Pavilion (Rokuon-Ji Temple).

So we journeyed away from our hotels and toward the west side of the city. As we disembarked and wandered through the grounds, it started to sprinkle rain - a gentle wash that bathed the gardens in a white light that filtered through the grey clouds. The Golden Pavilion was impressive, but crowded. After a rather lengthy bus trip there (also crammed with people), we wanted to check out the rock garden at Ryoanji Temple. It was a longer walk than expected, and I have a picture of the guys looking irritably at the map on the way there.



I, however, adore rain - it softens everything, and as I think about it, most places I've visited have been photographed in cloudy weather. After we entered the grounds and began the hike toward the Rock Garden at Ryoanji, I took pictures of this lake, marveling over the lily pads and swans as we stood under a tall canopy of trees and dried out a little.

Pausing to look around - that's what I hope I'm doing here. Sometimes turning to look back - rehashing situations to see if I missed the lesson as I was living through some experience. Sometimes just standing still, formulating impressions into blog entries so that I'm more present in the moment.

And for a precious few times, I have pictures, like this last one, that I find exquisitely lovely. I recall how it felt, clothing barely damp from walking in the mist, smelling the clean rain mixed with the not unpleasant scent of lake, looking around - almost breathless - at the beauty of being lost in my thoughts, finding myself somewhere special, and treasuring the sound of the tiny white gravel under my feet as I moved from this particular spot and headed toward more adventures.

I'm pausing right now, peering out my wide wooden blinds, staring at my street, outside the house I've always wanted for myself. It's beginning to darken as the sun slips farther away for another evening. In this moment, as I sit here and type, moved from my office to curl up on my loveseat, I'm happy. Watching it rain softly, letting thoughts come and go, hoping those of you who read this are enjoying your evenings as well.

That was my ending there, but would you look at that last photo! Am I talented or what?! Does anyone else think that's gorgeous, or is it just me? I took that! All by myself! I probably shouldn't mention that I had it upside down when I first posted this entry, right? Because that would make me look stupid rather than talented. Which is probably what this little paragraph did. That's not so good.