Reflections and ruminations from a modern day Alice - Life is Wonderland |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT May 4th Stand outside for two minutes. Make a list of ten things you can smell, ten things you can hear, and ten things you can feel. I feel a little like I am cheating because I am doing this one a day late and I'm not standing outside because once again, it is raining. All we have had here in the Northeast is rain, rain, torrential rain and more rain. I do have my window cracking in my little writing nook though and so I think I can manage to tackle the prompt without dragging myself outside into the wet Spring. Ten things I can hear: 1. Birds, and lots of them. We moved last summer from a largely urban lot to a much more rural neighborhood. It is amazing how many more birds you can hear without the drone of traffic, ambulance and police sirens and the general ambient noise of living near a small city. The birds are my favorite sound now. 2. Rain...the consistent soundtrack of my days. I can hear the rain falling on the slate walkway, dripping down from the trees and pattering the windowsill. 3. My mother-in-law is in the kitchen washing the breakfast dishes and I can hear her trying not to clank them together as she puts them away. She has a reputation for breaking things that she is actively trying to amend. 4.. The little dog is snoring remarkably louder than one would imagine. 5. My mother-in-law is now shouting at said little dog, obviously she has found any number of bad things he might have done...the garbage (his garbage-diving skills are the stuff of legends), an accident (he loathes pooping outside in the rain) or some new evil surprise he has left just for her. 6. My neighbor across the street is tinkering loudly in his open garage, most likely aggravated that the rain is once again keeping his yard work at bay. 7. Somewhere there is a child laughing loudly, possibly the house behind us. 8. The subdued roar of a plane passing overhead, something big and high in the sky. 9. A car has just driven by, too quickly for the rain. They are far less frequent than on my old street. 10. The gentle whirling of the dryer comes through the floorboards under my feet. Another perk of the new house is a washer-dryer on the main level instead of in a creepy basement. The noise of the machines is strangely calming. Smelling is harder...I smell rain, the clean Spring scent of wet grass. I also smell the remnants of the breakfast just cooked that pretty much hangs about me and reminds me that I need to shower the smell of Turkey bacon off me soon. As far as ten things I can feel...the list is equally short. I feel blessed. I am sitting in front of an open window and the world outside is green and full of promise. Yes, it is raining but it is not snowing...and it is not humid. I have a managed to find a few moments to write and that is the very best feeling. |