Day 174 Fluid Dance

June 1, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70^th years where I write and illustrate a blog on each day’s gift.)

There is something about an afternoon rain, rolling with thunder, lightning and the smell of wet earth. It is exciting, soothing and rejuvenating all wrapped in one package. As a child, I used to sit in my bedroom window to watch storms. For some reason, I never associated rain with sadness like most poets do. A rain storm awakens the senses—touch of tiny pin points of rain on the skin, sound of deep-throated  thunder, sight of lightning flashes silhouetting whatever lies between it and me, taste of raindrops like beansprouts and rich smell of earth. Oh, there’s nothing like the smell of wet earth to arouse primal feelings. I always say that spring has truly arrived when earthworms crawl out onto the sidewalk after a rain. 

Today I was fascinated by raindrops striking my porch railing again and again and again and again. My spirit soaked up the sound and watched this liquid dance. Sheets of rain poured down first perpendicularly and then angled at 45 degrees, depending on the ever-changing and swirling wind. Water drops shot down from above, allegro against the wooden railing and they bounced up allongé in every direction. Some danced pas de deux up and away, one leap after another. If I looked closely, I could see the rapid path of each drop, an energetic dance on a wooden stage.

How could anyone equate this dynamic performance with sadness? It was full of joy. 

My gift today is a water ballet.

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> Day 175: Trifolium

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 95 – Equal Opportunity

March 14, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

Mother Nature does not discriminate. Just ask those in Haiti or New Orleans or Vanuatu. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. No matter how unfair that seems, that’s the way things are.

Walking in the rain in my backyard, I am drawn to drops of rain hanging from bare tree twigs, brittle leaves and coiling weeds. All living things need water and have equal opportunity to it. Drops hang indiscriminately from my defoliated Japanese red maple as well as from a pernicious weed, which will try to choke my good plants as the growing season begins. 

But right now, regardless of how that weed will soon behave, the rain crowns it in beauty and reflections--the same as the red maple, crepe myrtle and holly. I see the same things reflected in the drops, regardless of where they hang; I am reflected in weed drops as well as holly drops.  
  
My gift today is aqua-reflections.
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> DAY 96 Slats of Time

You can read my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 13 - Rainy Day

December 22, 2014

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year. Each day I will find a gift the day brings, write about it and illustrate it.)

Rain, rain go away. Come again some other day. Everyone knows this familiar English nursery rhyme; some will remember the Peter, Paul and Mary song, It’s Raining (1962) and other musician-created rain music. And it seems that everyone complains about rain. Like anything, rain is both good and bad. It gives fish a place to swim, makes the grass grow and brings us drinking water. It can also seep into basements, make more mowing necessary and ruin parades.

But I don’t complain about it when I consider that water is a serious issue for millions of people around the world. As many as 780 million people lack access to clean water—two ½ times the US population—and 3.4 million people die each year from a water related disease—nearly equal to the population of Los Angeles. Even though my well water turns white dishes yellow and makes gray stains in bathroom fixtures, I am lucky to have access to water that does not threaten my health.

Rain appeals to my creative and meditative side. I’ve always been mesmerized watching raindrops run down a window. As a child, I used to claim individual drops and predict which one would win the race to the bottom. Now as an adult, I marvel at their beauty as I take close-up photos of the drops and I embrace its sound as I snuggle inside in my dry bed or with a good book. It is a calming sound. Life is good, even when it rains. We might as well accept it since we can’t do anything about the weather.

However, if I lived on HD 189733b, a planet NASA discovered in 2005, I might complain about the glass rain in 4500 mph winds.

For further reading on water issues and glass rain, see these links:

http://thewaterproject.org/health

http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/water/

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/11jul_cobaltblue/

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> DAY 14 34th Street
 

You can read my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

No Water Allowed

Once upon a time, there was a retired couple. He had been an editor and retired from The Sun after 40 years. She had been a middle school teacher who earned a doctorate after retiring from teaching 7th graders.

This nice couple joined the Maryland Film Festival and received free screening passes. They recognized a good deal when they saw one and they liked the Maryland Film Festival people.

On his blog, the man reviewed films they saw. Although he didn't listen to his wife's opinion on the films, that was okay. They still kissed at the end of each movie and at the end of each night.

The woman was a big water drinker. Waiters at their favorite Chinese restaurant, the Szechuan Cafe in Pasadena (Maryland), did a good job of keeping her water glass full but they had to work hard to do it. She had asthma and her doctor said she should try to drink a gallon of water every day. Her gastroenterologist also said she needed to drink loads of water.

When this couple went to see movie screenings, sometimes she bought a fountain Coke at the theater but other times she carried a small bottle of water from home with her. People at the movie theaters were all understanding so the water was never a problem...

...until Bengies.

This nice couple drove 34 miles from Pasadena (Maryland) to Bengies Drive-In to see another screening. They did not take a bag full of snacks. They did not stop at McDonald's on the way. They weren't hungry because they had just had dinner (chicken, rice and asparagus). They had no alcohol in their car. They came to see the movie. However, they did have two fresh bottles of water with them.

"Wait! You have to get rid of your water." A Bengies man shouted at them as they drove in and began to look around for a pull-in spot. He told them they had to throw away their fresh bottles of water and buy new bottles of water from the drive-in's concession stand. Management wouldn't budge.

So, rather than throw away two $.50 a bottle waters and buy two $1.25 a bottle waters, this couple left without seeing the movie. They drove home another 34 miles, spending $5 in gas in the end.

It was the principle.

They also kissed that night.

In case you're interested in the theater's House Rules, go here:

http://www.bengies.com/HouseRules.php

It's enough to scare off a nice retired senior couple and their blog readers.



Comment from David.................................................................

The nice husband adds: An offer to buy two bottles of water from the concession stand, while keeping the two contraband bottles in the car unopened, was refused. The two perfectly good, unopened bottles of water, had to be thrown away, or we would EACH have to purchase a "food and beverage permit" for $7. So it was throw away 50 cents worth of water, pay $14 to keep and even drink that water, or leave the premises. We chose the latter. The great American drive-in movie theater has been vanishing from the landscape. Bengies may be the last in metro Baltimore. It has not had an easy time surviving. Inflexibility cost it all of $2.50 worth of water sales tonight, and the possibility of a hotdog sale or two during the screening.