LA PLUIE ET BONNE FÊTE CARO

Today it rained all day. From inside, it might have seemed like any other rainy day, but I spent the morning outdoors, running a "sled" station in an outdoor event that was, like soccer games, on, rain or shine. It was truly a rain storm. The wind blew the rain in every direction, so that my umbrella was useless. My rainjacket kept me dry, but I had no regret of wearing the same layers I wear cross country skiing in the winter. My thick tights were soaked by the end, but I was so grateful not to be in shorts like a few red legged kids I saw running in the crowd. My gloves were soaked through but served their purpose. My brimmed hat kept my glasses fairly clear.

It was actually a lot of fun, once we were so saturated that it made no difference. I did have rainboots on, so it didn't matter that my extra pair of socks were damp by the time I pulled them out. When the kids finished, the three of us giving instructions and turning the metal hunks of metal around had a race. I won the first, because my competition hit a dip in the terrain. The last race, I was so far behind, I don't even known which guy won.

The day ended early. I guess the grade sixes voted against the rest of the school going through the same experience they did. Some came around and did it again, some gave it their all. My daughter "hated" it, but she didn't look so convincing with that smile when she finished the job. There is something satisfying about doing something physical and succeeding. It's just hard to get out and do it.

The last show I watched was  the Dallas finals of America Ninja Warrier where he is the first to reach the highest 18" megawatt. The ending was the best. Daniel Gill, an incredible climber, shows up and gets it done. It was definitely inspiring to think how often these Ninjas show up to train, months and years before the event.

On return home, I stripped off all the wet layers and put on dry. I pulled out a blanket I had stowed away when I thought summer had arrived this past weekend, and made myself a hot chocolate for the first time in months. I watched a movie called, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, a beautifully set musical in the north of France about a girl in a shop. It's considered a "melancomedie" and it's been compared, and rightly so, to La La Land. It was the perfect film to warm up to, finish a few mending projects and curl up with a kitty. I think I like this genre much better than the usual tragedy, if it can't be a happy ending in a romance. It feels more like real life in any case. Just blue enough for the melancholy of a cloudy rainy day.

I leave you with a favourite French poem by Paul Verlaine:

Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville.
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénêtre mon coeur ?

O bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits !
Pour un coeur qui s’ennuie,
O le chant de la pluie !

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce coeur qui s’écoeure.
Quoi ! nulle trahison ?
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C’est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi,
Sans amour et sans haine,
Mon coeur a tant de peine.

It Rains in My Heart (English translation)

It rains in my heart
As it rains on the town,
What languor so dark
That it soaks to my heart?

Oh sweet sound of the rain
On the earth and the roofs!
For the dull heart again,
Oh the song of the rain!

It rains for no reason
In this heart that lacks heart.
What? And no treason?
It’s grief without reason.

By far the worst pain,
Without hatred, or love,
Yet no way to explain
Why my heart feels such pain!