It is unusual to wake up in the summer in New Orleans to a proper rainy day. Here the rain comes in fits, in floods, heavy in the afternoon, secretly at night. It is brief but often too fast for the saturated ground and causes flooding. But today I woke late, noticed the dark, the unusually coolish air, and went back to sleep. I read in bed with The Cat and my sweetie, and finally got up before lunch.
The rain actually began yesterday during our yardsale. We were lucky enough to have lots of friends stop by, starting right at 8. We had cookies, and lemonade. At one point, Andy made grits and vegetables for all of us under the tent, hiding in the shade. Old friends met new friends and Eric insisted on this photo of himself and Misha to prove we were all here for a minute. When the rain started, friends and strangers crowed in, away from the edges as we tried to keep the rain from pooling on the tent. I was in the middle of "fixing" Eric's bicycle, recused from a free pile somewhere in the city, so he was stranded with us, making for at least three people under the tent at all times. A crowded little party, but easy to pass the cookies.
This morning, this pile was all that's left. There is a soggy box on the curb with some plastic containers, and these piles waiting for their new owners to claim them or to be donated or sold somewhere else. All day I have been sleepy, sluggish. A combination of rain and allergies, of sleeping too much and from being worn out from the unspoken goodbyes. It is a drawn out process, as we still don't leave for two weeks, but also a chance for multiple meetings, coffee and dinner, or a walk and a snoball. And tonight, maybe even a bikeride.
