Rain turning to Ice.

Just after midnight and I am still awake, not an uncommon occurance to tell the truth. However tonight it is because I am enjoying the sound of rain on the all too thin roof of my little caravan. The forecast is for rain all night, turning to freezing rain and ice.. The last two are not really all that welcome as I have to get out to play cowboy in the morning, but then again they will give the landscape a new facade which is nearly always welcomed.

Listening to the rain fall on the roof will be one of life's great joys that I will be sacrificing for the everyday comfort of a home in the earth. With up to two feet of soil on my roof, I won't hear the tattoo of the rain hitting a tin roof as I enjoy now. I've considered options to give me this sound, so welcome it is, but so far none have made it into the plan..

There is something comforting about weather which limits us, which changes our plans or choices. While in Canada one winter, the forecast called for several feet of snow, on top of the four feet of snow already on the ground. My hosts were prepared since that was not an unusual forecast for them, so the house was warm, food was plentiful, but all plans for travel were cancled. It made for a better environment. A shared experience, a shared “tribulation” or challenge. It removed almost all of the modern world, putting us back in the situation of just providing warmth and food. Granted because of the planning of my hosts this was not much of a challenge, but rather a friendly reminder of what once was and could be again.

To a lesser extent a good rain has a similar effect. We want to stay dry, so we avoid going out in the rain. We find ways around what we do not have, or what we “needed” before the rain started. We face a new challenge, cut off, however slightly, from others who are beyond the veil of the rain.

Perhaps it is my love of solitude, or that of a challenge, or perhaps my cynicism on modern culture, or maybe, and I believe this to be the case, it is a sincere love of nature and weather which drives me to stay up late simply listening to the rain, or rising early to test the new snow... Regardless, this is one area I probably won't examine too closely, just to make sure that the magic of extreme weather is not chased away by the bright light of reason..