Rain

It's that time of the year-- mushrooms are starting to crop up and tadpoles are in my rainwater catchment.

In the Philippines, we only have two distinct seasons-- a dry one and a wet one. Things aren't very confusing that way. I heard on the radio that our weather bureau defines rainy season as one in which "it rains everyday for five consecutive days". We are squarely in that department now, bring out your rain boots.



The very pronounced feelings of the citizenry is that rainy season has been, so far, a repose from the almost biblically apocalyptic summer heat. However, there is also widespread fear after last year's disaster-- this one conforming more to the universal archetype of how the earth tends to swallow us all every ones in while-- Ondoy, internationally known as Ketsana.



So what have we learned since last year? How can we be welcome the season with open arms? I've been ruminating on this the past few days, as rainfall has become more constant and a little bit scarier everytime. The trick is to think calmly, as nature puts water where it thinks it should be, as we see where we can store and allow water to flow.