A Gentle Rain

A gentle rain began last night and has continued into the morning.  It is not Purple Rain. Like so many others the news of Prince's death was quite a shock. I mean who didn't like Prince in the 80's? I'm sure there might be a few but his music was the background to a lot of life back then. So many times when our softball team went to nearby tournaments Little Red Corvette and 1999 was our jam. When he lived in the townhouse before our neighborhood became just the hood, I rode my bike in a neighboring neighborhood. It was perfect for getting miles and time in because this neighborhood had a street that made a full circle, almost but not quite a mile. Roy and I measured the distance so I would know how many laps needed to be made to accomplish my goal. My music of choice, the cassette in my Walkman was Prince, the album with When Doves Cry on it. The cadence was perfect for warming up, riding in a heart target zone and then cool down. I never tired of that album and it kept me going on days when I would rather do just one lap. Another song he wrote and I still listen to while cleaning the upstairs is Sheila E's Glamourous Life. Purposely, I haven't read too many of the articles on Twitter because his death story is going to come in layers. But it is sad just like Whitney and Michael. Such huge influencers of culture and of music.

There is a fire in Madison County and hopefully the rain is helping all the fire fighters contain and extinguish a fire that is covering more than 2000 acres. Because of the smoke, school has been cancelled in Madison County. Part of a major highway just reopened after being shut down for most of yesterday afternoon and all of last night. Around 1:45 am I was awoken by low flying helicopters. I fought through sleepiness that turned into confusion because it has been a while since the sound of low flying helicopters has played any part in life. It wasn't the sound of circling like in Houston when looking for criminals, it was the sound of military helicopters. I never got a glimpse of them in the night sky because it is so dang dark in the country but I did think they might be on their way to the fire with chemicals to help with containment. It took a long time to fall back asleep. This fire is near the Tennessee border, close to Hot Springs but mentally I was trying to count miles, plus wind and who knows what else because math is not my best thing trying to figure out if we were in danger. Kind of like my unrealistic thinking when those guys robbed the jewelry store in Asheville and ditched their red minivan, which is a whole other problem, about ten miles away. I took in account pastures and electric fences and the fact they were from out of state and the high probability of them getting caught, yet I rearranged furniture and stuff, you know, to be safe.

I think the last of the rain is coming through now. The robins are in the front yard getting a fair share of worms. The clouds and fog cover the view of long range mountains and nearby farms. There are just a few blossoms left on the apple trees. I never tire of the view from the front porch. While cleaning out photos on my phone I could hardly discard any of this view because it changes with sun, clouds and rain. So laundry is in the works meaning I must tear myself away from the view and from the blog.....at least for now.