Another gray day. It's raining again. I don't mind too much. I love the sound of rain drops beating on my roof. It makes me feel cozy and warm when I'm in my snug little A-Frame house. To get in a daily walk, though, I do have to venture out in the wet stuff.
Slogging through the puddles to walk in the rain is a little daunting, but worth it when I'm done. Before I go out, I put on my most water resistant shoes and my cute raincoat It has stars on it! Even though I can't really see the sun, there still is enough of it to give me a boost of serotonin, the happiness hormone.
When I return home, I have earned my spot in front of the fireplace where I can sip hot lemon ginger tea or hot cocoa. The flames warm me again as I slide into a good fantasy novel or an intriguing mystery. For me, walking in the colder weather magically clears my sinuses and speeds up my metabolism so I stay warm.
And although gray days mean rain, those clouds are what makes the Pacific Northwest so green. My stately old cedar trees are drinking their fill of water and that's good. The forest needs that water to stay healthy and lush.
In fact, all the green plants are loving the rain. Drizzly moisture feeds the roots that send up emerald shoots.
And think of this, gray isn't a hard color. It's soft; so it's a soft day. The power of words create a different picture so gray doesn't need to be dismal.
Soft fog in the tree tops, wispy fronds of cloud wrap their way around Douglas firs. Like clouds fallen from the sky, a haze swirls and covers buildings in cities. I see a fog bank floating on Bellingham Bay, where boats mysteriously disappear behind that wall of cloud.
And rain is life-giving in other ways. When it rains here, you can be sure that higher up, it is snowing. Snow packs are forming again, necessary to provide the spring melt that renews our water source. Rain is vital to our health and keeps us safe from drought.
Rain sometimes inspires me to go out to find warmth in new places... like a library to read in... or an art gallery to explore and to maybe even buy a new piece of art to change the look of one of my rooms. I might find a coffee shop where I could sit with my lap top and a steaming mug of robust Arabica and let words pour onto the screen through my fingertips. I might go to a movie and sit with warm popcorn, while I'm immersed in the magic made by cameras and surround sound.
On the other hand, I might be inspired to stay home and create my own art. I could gather my paints and create the scene from my imagination or the real one outside my window.
Gray as a color is interesting to think about; almost not its own thing. For what is gray but a dark white or a light black? it is neither black or white. It is neutral, an in-between kind of color.
It is a softer version of white, a subdued white, And white is lacking any color because white absorbs no colors, reflecting all colors back like the rainbow revealed by a prism.
Gray is a much softer version of black, a mix of black and white. Black absorbs all colors and white absorbs none. That is something to think about.
So today may be a gray day but it is a mild kind of day. Mild and unprepossessing, a promise of rain maybe or just the stillness of vague cloud cover, a magical mist of gray with fog shrouded trees.
If I haven't sold you on gray, maybe think of the metallic version. This is also a silver day! That could be intriguing, a shimmery gray.
Positive versions of gray emerge with the power of words:
think of a cleansing embrace for cities,
damping down the dust on country roads,
filling ponds and streams.
Gray can be lustrous like a pearl, or soft like the purr of a cat. And how you think of gray will color your day.
Peace.
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