it
won't
stop
raaaaaaaaaaaaaaainingggggggggggggg.
We've been staying inside mostly. So much to do outside, but it's too wet. Yesterday we went to a movie and for a couple hours I was transported away from this soggy landscape. We saw Babies. Oh yes, you must see it. It will make you smile, then chuckle, then laugh out loud and go "awwww" and fall in love about 4 times, and in my case, remind me what joy we are in for in a few months. It did a little job on those doldrums for me.
Rainy days are also good days to do the things you've been thinking about but hadn't gotten to. Remember when I was rhapsodizing about the color orange? I thought I needed an orange shirt. Well, I had an orange shirt, but such a wimpy, lunch meat-ish orange that it hardly counted. In fact I had decided, good solid shirt that it was, that the color just looked wretched on me. See?
So I dyed it. I have a big bag of little tins of dye that I sold in my shop about 18 years ago, so I wasn't sure they still had any oomph left in them. Not to worry. Here is my "new" orange shirt.
I love it now! Dyeing clothing is always tricky. It must be a natural fiber (this is 100% cotton) and sometimes weird splotchy things happen, but it came out perfectly even. The thread didn't take the dye as much as the shirt itself, but it looks fine. This color might be an antidote to the doldrums.
Today was my daughter Emily's birthday, which also happens to be the birthday of two of my nieces. One of them was born on exactly the same day as Emily. So it is a big day in our family. I went back to see what I had written on the blog a year ago and that made me smile.
So I guess I'm getting through the doldrums, but I wish the rain would stop for awhile.
I looked it up. See #3.
dol·drums
[dohl-druh
mz, dol-, dawl-] –noun(used with a plural verb)
) 1.a state of inactivity or stagnation, as in business or art: August is a time of doldrums for many enterprises.
2.the doldrums,
a.a belt of calms and light baffling winds north of the equator between the northern
and southern trade winds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
b.the weather prevailing in this area.
and southern trade winds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
b.the weather prevailing in this area.
3.a dull, listless, depressed mood; low spirits.
I am just coming out of the doldrums. My last post was about this too! But the sun came out (finally) and my inner batteries are fully charged again and the feeling has gone away. I used to live in Oregon and don't think I could do it again because I now think I have a touch of SAD (seasonal affection disorder) when the sun doesn't shine.
ReplyDeleteYour orange shirt is perfect! I love orange. I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! That is my orange you have going on there!!
ReplyDeleteWe will get you out of the doldrums when we get to the retreat. I have been going out in the rain because of Scooter. I think it helps to just defy the weather!
I saw sun for about 30 minutes this morning. Now it is gone. Blah!
Well if it wasn't January rain with a high of 45f (are you kidding me!), we just might all survive, if it keeps up I totally expect a crime wave in our fair city...and wasn't it this time last year we broke records for the longest number of days above 100 degrees fahrenheit.
ReplyDeleteI think Mom Nature dropped her calendar and put the months back in the wrong order. I swear it was nicer in February! We are usually in the 80s by now and getting ready for the heat. We haven't had the rain you have had, but dang, the furnace on and wool sock the week before Memorial Day?!! Love the orange shirt. We all have to make our own sunshine!
ReplyDeleteYup, doldrums and rain suck. But, it sounds like you've found some antidotes to keep you going, and the shirt looks great!
ReplyDeleteGreat save on the shirt! Perhaps it will summon the sun.
ReplyDeleteI always think of "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster when I hear that word. Great book for maybe 6th grade level. Pics by Jules Feiffer. Lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteFortunately your hobby can be done indoors! I do like the new orange shirt. I think it will come out on top in any battle with the doldrums. I always heard there was a lot of rain in your neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteYep, that unending rain makes things GREEN not orange. Just like the (usual) lack of rain makes California GOLDEN. As for getting myself out of the doldrums, I have started to giggle to myself over the misreadings that have come to me as I age. "A belt of clams and light battling winds....." Maybe that image can cheer you.
ReplyDelete