Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

I couldn't resist the Carpenters' quote. Just dates me a bit, that's all. I used to love them when I was little. My aunt Peggy listened to them non-stop, and I learned all of the words to the songs on her records. It made me feel very adult to be able to sing along with actual big people's music- not just my old Burl Ives Rudolph recordings.

It rained here last night. Big shock for Seattle, no? So I had to track down the silly umbrella that I own. It is a vibrant and really ugly shade of pink. It was purchased under duress during a monsoon downpour of epic proportions from an Osco in Tempe, AZ. Spouse got the red one. I got the pink. At the time we thought it best. He has since moved on to a nice, little portable number. I am too cheap.

Rain today though reminds me of the hurricane named after my Sister-in-law. She would be like that too, if she was an actual hurricane. Intense and strong. That's our Katrina.

I've never lived in a place where the weather can kill on that scope. Montana has the cold. That can sure as hell kill. And pretty quickly. Arizona has the heat. Ditto. But both of those are pretty much singular experiences. Seattle doesn't seem to have anything that dramatic to offer. Natural disasters via seismic events, sure. But weather- doesn't seem like it. I pretty much have avoided living in places where these kinds of events were a possiblity. By intent. Not that I feel smug- I just know that I don't handle the off-chance threat of major catastrophes very well. Don't get me started on Mt. Ranier. I had a rough enough time with the Yellowstone Caldera and the fault line that underlies Helena. My bluff to the fates was that I could never be killed off as long as I had books on my shelf that I hadn't completed yet. I wasn't ready. Therefore, I couldn't die. I think they call that Magic Thinking. If not, they should. Do I still feel like this? Well, not really. I am aware that plenty of people die with unfinished business, and that the ability to wrap up your life in a tidy way is a small miracle not often achieved.

I just continue to avoid most of the major disaster movies, though. I do like to sleep at night, not wait for the mountain to erupt. We do, however live on a hill. On the other side of the hill from the mountain. Out of sight, out of mind...