The Cleansing

When I woke up this morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee, did a bleary eyed email check, added a couple of entries to the Tarheel Tavern, and headed outside for a cigarette, (and all before 8am this morning!) It was so beautiful this morning. It's so obviously slipping into Fall. The air is clearer, drier, and just has that Fall quality to it. It was so pretty it hurt, cliched Carolina blue sky and puffy clouds billowing by. It was also obvious -despite how clear it was at the time- that it would rain before the day was over. You could smell it, plus, the fireants were in an uproar. The old timers forecast winter temps by the wooly booger caterpillars, us youngin's predict rain by the frenzy of fireants.

But between Fall mornings and September rainstorms there are, sometimes, summer afternoons. It took all I had to stay strong and leave the A/C off. It got hot, and despite having all the windows open and the exhaust fan on, it was pretty darn uncomfortable. Then, of all things to have for dinner, I made lasagna. One ridiculously large pot of boiling water and 25 minutes of the oven being on at 375 degrees, and it hit miserable ranges of heat and humidity in my house. It had me wishing it was 7:30 am again.

Now the rain has come, thank God, and gone. Just a quick shower as the sun began to set was all it took to cool it off and make me smile again. I love the rain, in case I haven't ever said so before. With or without thunder, it's just, well, cleansing. My only regret is that it stopped so quickly. My mental status is pretty grimey lately. I could have used a longer cleansing.