Dearest Readers,

It’s lashin’ rain out there and no doubt the dry forests are breathing a sigh of relief. We need rain so badly in this region right now. The gorgeous summer weather has meant bone dry land that is ripe for forest fires.

Upon waking, I opened the curtains to see the wet, gloomy, grey and thought, “How beautiful.” Whaaat?

This uncommon reaction reminded me of a tourist couple I met last year when I was in Haines Junction, YT, for the Yukon Writers’ Festival. We (my fellow authors and I) encountered them at the Visitor’s Centre and greeted them with the typical “beautiful day” introduction.

“We’re sick of it,” they said.

Their response was kinda shocking.  We’d been soaking up the sun and loving it. They’d been on the road for weeks and nothing but sun, sun, and more sun. They’d grown weary of it.

“We’re dying for some rain,” they said. “We just want to see some clouds and feel that freshness of the rain falling on our skin.”

I thought they were crazy. Who could believe a person would ever complain about perfect, sunny days?  But this morning, when I heard that rain tap-tapping on the windows and felt the coolness of the wet day, I actually understood where they were coming from.

Inspiring Message of the Day: Be still sad heart and cease repining;/Behind the clouds the sun is shining,/Thy fate is the common fate of all,/Into each life a little rain must fall,/Some days must be dark and dreary. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow