Raindrops

I love going to sleep to the sound of rain on the roof. Maybe it just takes me back to childhood. Growing up we lived in a small timber cottage with a iron roof and somehow the rain sounded comforting and cosy like a warm blanket or a cuddly teddy bear. I’d snuggle under the covers and drifted off to sleep listening to its gentle patter.
 
I love the smell of rain. Sometimes you can smell it just before it arrives. There's the wonderful aroma of rain on freshly mown grass and the fragrance of the cool freshness of rain after a long hot day.
 
In his book, Surprised by Laughter, Terry Lindvall quotes CS Lewis as saying he learnt to enjoy the wetness of the rain. Not just endure it or live with it but actually enjoy it. I think I can understand that, living as he did in a country with an abundance of rain. It reminds me of the saying, “Some people feel the rain and others just get wet”. 

I wish I could add the amazing fragrance of this Philadelphus

I love the joy of walking in the rain and the-world-washed-clean feeling after it's rained. 

​But most of all I love the way ordinary, everyday things have an added beauty when touched by raindrops ... a leaf, a spider's web, a simple flower.  

Blueberry Ash - look closely and you can see a tiny face peeping out from one of the drops at the bottom

I love the reflection of the surrounding bush in the raindrop

There is a quiet beauty found in nature when heaven weeps

Photography has trained me to become more observant, to live in the present moment and become more aware of everything around me ... I now see things I would never have noticed before.

Even a dead calyx becomes a thing of beauty, like a jewelled pendant, when touched by a raindrop

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens, Brown paper packages tied up with strings, These are a few of my favourite things.

Casuarina lit up by raindrops

Berries of a native grass

A thousand raindrops caught in a spider's web

I love the raindrop caught in midair.

So next time it rains, take the opportunity to 'feel' the rain - enjoy its wetness - dance in the rain. Be grateful for its life giving power and catch a glimpse of the beauty it paints all around you.