TIME AND PLACE

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Yesterday’s post was all about my need for rain. So it rained last night…that was after I ran naked and screaming ‘let there be rain’ through the streets, in and out of the traffic, into the gas station for a Twinkie…up Eubank to Montgomery…knocked on Scarpa’s door for a take-out pizza (which got all soggy on the way home). Maybe I didn’t do that. But it did rain. I couldn’t find just… Read More

I love everything about this poem, especially how it reminds me of Minnesota in April. SPRING STORM BY William Carlos Williams The sky has given over its bitterness. Out of the dark change all day long rain falls and falls as if it would never end. Still the snow keeps its hold on the ground. But water, water from a thousand runnels! It collects swiftly, dappled with black cuts a way for… Read More

Pictures from a rainy day train ride in Norway…from Stavanger to Kristiansand. The train ride was a few hours, with the whole world outside my window transformed into a magic kingdom of water. Sitting on my couch loving this rainy morning. I am a certified Pluviophile and almost nothing makes me happier than seriously rainy weather. I live in New Mexico just to keep me from getting too damn happy…. Spring Storm… Read More

One or two or three or four ‘letters’ from Norway to go. Let’s see, there’s this one about Lyme disease and walking in the rain. Then one about butter accompanied by animal pictures (and no, the animals in question are not being braised, sautéed or fried in that deliciously golden salty Setesdal Valley butter). And then there’s saying goodbye to Neset, and Olav and Solveig, and a quick look from the window… Read More

I quite surprised myself by finding these photos of rain on the train window so beautiful. Hope you enjoy them. I do realize people from rainier climates might not find them so special…but New Mexico friends you may like a raindrop in your day.

The few photos that follow seemed to me to be more abstracted than even the rain-drenched group I called landscapes. So with my eye for art (that’s a joke, okay?) I thought they should have their own post.

Friday I took the train from Stavanger to Kristiansand. It rained hard, downpour-hard, almost all of the way. The trains are clean, cozy and efficient; the countryside is beautiful and yes, most beautiful of all, it rained—snakes and snails and puppy dog tails or, as my Norwegian dad always said, it’s raining pitchforks and ax handles! Of course I took pictures the entire three hours. Because when will I ever see this… Read More

I’m singin’ in the rain Just singin’ in the rain What a glorious feeling I’m happy again I walk down the lane With a happy refrain And singing Singing in the rain In the rain, in the rain, in the rain …Sang Gene Kelly. I woke up this morning to the sound of rain. I wanted to cling to it, keep it from being beamed away by sun. I wanted to lie… Read More

 Yesterday: Hoi An, tourist village extraordinaire…Let’s see…where were we? I know…yesterday evening in Hoi An. We are street walkers in a quaint village brimming over with tourists, that nevertheless manages to retain a low-key pleasantness that’s hard to match. Vietnamese people have a dignity about them that’s apparent in stores and restaurants and crowds—it’s something about the upright way they hold themselves and a politeness that’s half friendliness and half maintaining a… Read More

Friday evening. I think there’s not so much more to say about this trip. Actually there’s much more about Greenland and Norway and the cousins and the culture but it’s hard to concentrate after the hard work of touristing all day so all of that must wait until I’m home. Today both Teresa and I ran out of energy and curiosity—and money seems to be disappearing rather quickly as well. Definitely time… Read More