On a Wet Tin Roof…

I love the sound of rain…on a tin roof…the ping…ping…ping…so relaxing…mesmerizing…unfortunately…I don’t have one…but…what I do have…is a gutter…and…when the rain hits the gutter…it makes that same…pinging…sound…

That’s the sound I heard yesterday morning…right after I got up…before I turned on the radio…loud enough…to wake the neighbors down the street…I could hear the soft landing…of so many little drops…as they hit the gutter…before sliding down into the yard…

I admit it…it was dark…but…I went outside anyway…so…I could hear it better…such a soothing sound…it really didn’t matter…that…I didn’t have a tin roof…I had a gutter…

Bertha…reminded me of a phrase…that…Granny…used to say a lot…and…that is…making do…

Now…I’m sure…most of you are familiar with that phrase…and…in these economic times…there’s still a lot of making do…essentially…doing without…

At first glance…the phrase does seem to mean…settling…settling for something less than what I want…because…I can’t afford it…or otherwise can’t have it…but…Bertha…had me to look at it again…as…making peace with where I am…enjoying what I currently have…and…still being hopeful…for more…

I like the change in that perspective…making do…no longer feels negative…like something to endure…and…I think about my non-tin roof…it’s only a couple of years old…and…as much as I love the sound…I see no reason to consider replacing the roof with tin…not…when I have gutters…I love going outside during the rain…sitting on the porch…in Granny’s rocker…listening to the…ping…ping…ping…

Besides…something tells me…if I had a tin roof…it…would…get hot…and…Bertha…would…put the cat on it…and…then…where would I be…

Jane

Baking Bertha…

As promised…I’ve started working on…Bertha…The Sequel…what I may have failed to mention…is that it was mostly written about five years ago…I just didn’t like it…

It took me a long time to understand why…the ingredients were all there…Bertha…the cat…lime green spandex…high-heels…well-worn soapbox…Rita…me to learn lessons…they just weren’t in the right proportions…

Bertha is explaining it to me…as I type…actually…that writing…especially about her…is a lot like baking a cake…it’s not only what you put in…but…how much…that matters…

So…in looking back…the stories had the right amount of Bertha and the cat…but…too much of me…too much soapbox…too much lime green…who knew there could be too much…and honestly…not enough Rita…

While all of the proportions are important…it’s the Bertha to me ratio…that really threw things out of kilter…the equivalent of a cup of flour…to a cup of baking powder…you got it…’splosion…and a big mess in the oven…

So…I’m more writing than editing…which is fine…except…there are some descriptions I really love…so…I’ll have to figure out how to include them in the new recipe…

Here’s one of my favorites…                                   

I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. It was worse than a commercial jingle that follows you around all day long. It was worse than the little hairs that get under your shirt at the beauty shop.

I’ll figure out how to use it…maybe…it’ll be a conflict between Bertha and Rita…hmmm…that just might work…see how helpful you are…and…no…you will not receive royalties for the idea…okay…I’ll mention you in the credits…geez…you can be more demanding than the cat…

Who by the way says…if Bertha is flour…and I am baking soda…then it must be sugar…

Bertha laughed…now they are fighting…again…sometimes it’s hard to live with an imaginary friend…and an imaginary cat…just saying…

Jane