"Winds in the east, mist comin' in, like somethin' is brewin',about to begin.Can't put me fingeron what lies in store.But I feel whats to happen,all happened before."

(Bert, "The One-Man Band," Mary Poppins)

And just like that the winds changed and the clouds rolled in. The smell of rain filled the air. Lightning illuminated the sky - and while I was reading nighttime stories to the boys the loud "tap, tap, tap" announced the arrival of something we have been waiting for.

On Wednesday night the 10th of March, we jumped out of bed and shouted, "its raining!!"

We quickly went around the house closing all the glass jalousie windows so that the blustery rain wouldn't make its way into the house. As we were doing this the electricity went out. I have to admit that it was kind of chaotic. The boys were running around, and if you have ever been in a rainstorm with a tin roof, you know that you can't talk with a normal voice - you are yelling to hear one another.

We made our way out to the veranda and realized that there were bags of uncovered peanuts outside! We have a peanut shelling machine (I'll do a post about that later), and people bring large gunny sacks of peanuts to be shelled. As we haven't had rain in a long time, we weren't used to being worried about peanuts and the machine getting wet. The machine was already covered, but I ran out in the rain (it was so cold!) and found whatever sort of covering I could find and protected the peanuts the best that I could. 

Wow, the rain was really whipping around, and the only light that I had was when the lightning flashed. It was raining so hard that I could barely open my eyes, it was pouring down my face! With that done we ran to the back of the house to check out the cistern. 

Because it has been so long since we have had rain and there has been lots of dust - we let the rain wash off the roof before we put the pipe in the cistern to let the water flow in. By the time we made it around, the water coming off the roof was free of any serious dirt so I placed the downspout into the cistern. This of course led to a loud Hurrah! as I could hear the rain filling up our reservoir d'eau that has been nearly empty for so long. FYI we cleaned the cistern a couple of weeks ago in preparation for the rainy season starting.

It was probably around 11pm by this time and the boys were exhausted. They had been sitting with the dogs on the porch, trying to comfort them (although I think it was more to comfort themselves - it has been a long time since they have been in a storm). Our youngest pup, Skyla, had never even seen rain before! The electricity was still off, but we have a wonderful battery-powered nightlight that gives the room just enough light. They cozied up in bed and within 10 minutes were fast asleep. There were a few loud thunderclaps and I thought for sure that they would awaken - but they were out. 

Once they were sleeping I went out and stood on the veranda, listening to the rain. I turned the flashlight off on my phone and was in complete darkness. It was wonderful. I realized in that moment just how much of a blessing rain is.

I just breathed it all in. 

I know that might sound a little corny, but it has been almost four months since rain has graced us with its presence. I believe that our last rain shower was in the middle of November.

In the morning everything seemed fresher. All of the trees appeared a bit greener after having all the dust and grime of the last four months washed away.

As I am writing this post on Friday evening - there is thunder in the distance and the dark clouds are slowly coming our direction. 

(Due to heavy rainfall and panne de courant - another power outage - I am finishing up this post on Saturday.) 

The seal really is broken! Two rain showers in three days, I'll take it! Total rain according to our handy dandy weather station:

Wednesday: 49 mm

Friday: 61 mm

As the rain poured down, the boys made a fort on the veranda, bringing out the bluetooth reading light and cozying up under chairs and blankets with the dogs. 

And of course, I couldn't help but hear "And I want to wake up with the rain falling on a tin roof..." from the Norah Jones song, Come Away With Me. I wonder if Norah knows that if it is raining hard on a tin roof you can hear pretty much nothing?

This song holds a special place in my memory, as it was the album that was playing when my Uncle Jack took me to the JFK airport in NYC for my flight to Namibia. It was my first time flying internationally and first time going to Africa. I don't think that I would have ever thought at that time Africa would become home. Crazy where life leads us!

There has been a rejuvenation in the neighborhood. Because we now know that the rainy season is upon us, we awoke to people pulling out shovel-like hoes and working the soil. Ina (my mother-in-law) had planted sesame by early afternoon in the space just outside our wall. 

The cistern is also full enough that we have pumped it up to the large container and water will flow into the house now! I will do a post later about how we handled the water situation during the dry season. I feel like I can talk about it now that the rains have arrived!

I would like to thank all of you that have done rain dances or sent rainy thoughts our way! It seems like it worked!

Just in case you were wondering about the peanuts 🙂 We put them out in the sun the next day and they were shelled by the afternoon. Phew!

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