My shoes are getting a well-deserved break today as my walk was interrupted by rain – the walk has to happen in the morning or I don’t go. Today promises to be an all-day rain. So, I’m sitting here writing this blog post since it is now quite addictive to write every day, whether I walked or not. This was not my original bargain with myself i.e. a trade-off … you walk, and you may write and have one large glass of chocolate milk for those walking efforts. It is good to try to strive for perfection, but sometimes you must fall off the wagon just a little. Buddy, my canary is singing so beautifully, I decided he deserved a paragraph devoted to him. He is singing at the top of his lungs right now so I no longer am able to hear the rain pelting against the window. Unlike me, Buddy does not bemoan the dismal day. This is because Buddy is a perpetually happy little fellow, who starts singing as soon as I uncover him in the morning and continues brightening up the kitchen with his songs until I say “it’s time for bed now kid”. Buddy sings when it is quiet and he sings when the radio is on, whether it is the news or an oldie on WOMC. When I have dictation from Robb, I put the speaker on the Dictaphone and transcribe the tape that way so Buddy does not feel excluded and he sings right along with Robb’s voice. He only stops when he is eating; the rest of the time he is a happy-go-lucky little bird with a beautiful voice You cannot help but smile to yourself when you hear him, just as you must grin when you see this little squirrel, who, unlike me, did not let the rain deter his plans.

Life is good.

“THE RAINY DAY”
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
–By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow