A quiet rainy morning

It's summer ... dry, hot weather is normal. So when a cool, quiet, rainy morning rolls around, it's easy to spend a while enjoying the gentle rain.

I couldn't resist bringing my laptop out on the porch and working as I sat in the rocking chair listening to raindrops dripping all around me. It's 71 degrees as tree branches sag toward the ground from the weight of wet leaves ... the mountains are obscured in low clouds ... the gentle sound of water is all around. The faint smell of wood smoke combined with the fresh scent of earth and leaves permeates the air.

It's a quiet rainy morning in the Shenandoah Valley.

We were dry. The yard was parched and grass was turning brown under a blazing August sun. Dry earth poofed underfoot in the garden, and the river birches and bass trees were shedding hot-weather leaves. Driving gravel roads in the national forest kicked up huge clouds of dust, and many mountain streams were drying up.

A downpour last night pounded on the roof ... sometime overnight it continued ... today is the gentle soaking rain that truly helps in dry situations, occasionally interrupted by a deluge. The birds are twittering all around and an occasional insect buzzes by but there's little other movement or sound other than the rain and wind.

It's summer in the Shenandoah Valley....