Rainbow after Uncle Lowell's party
Picture courtesy of Ron Bales

And here it is once again--Friday!  I hope you have plans for the weekend that include fun, family and some time for you to put up your feet and relax.  I have dinner plans with friends tonight, a trip to see my son and daughter at college tomorrow, and I'm reserving Sunday for buying fabric for the quilting class I start next week.  I'm looking forward to all of it!  Last weekend, when we were in Indiana for my uncle's birthday celebration we couldn't help but notice the dry, dry fields.  The Midwest drought has taken a terrible toll on farmers this summer, and when remnants of Hurricane Isaac blew in with a rainstorm during the party, none of us were upset to see the rain!  Afterwards...a beautiful double rainbow.  I think it was God's way of saying happy birthday to a good man.

Obviously rain showers are welcome all over the world, not just in our rain hungry Midwest.  Tu Fu (713-770 AD), a leading poet of the T'ung Dynasty, greeted the rain almost two thousand years ago much the same way we do now.

Clear After Rain

Tu Fu

(translation by Kenneth Rexroth)

Autumn, cloud blades on the horizon.

The west wind blows from ten thousand miles.

Dawn, in the clear morning air,

Farmers busy after long rain.

The desert trees shed their few green leaves.

The mountain pears are tiny but ripe.

A Tartar flute plays by the city gate.

A single wild goose climbs in to the void.

Enjoy the day---what do you have planned for your weekend?