{"id":10107,"date":"2021-02-20T08:24:18","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T15:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=10107"},"modified":"2021-02-20T08:24:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T15:24:24","slug":"rinse-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/rinse-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Rinse Cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rinse Cycle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brenda Bellinger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember when we used to rely on weather forecasts that were broadcast with our nightly news? We\u2019d get a good-enough sense of when to expect rain from the fuzzy satellite image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years ago, I used to ride the bus to work. At one of the stops along the way, a cheerful woman named Marilyn would board. She had Down Syndrome and would always greet everyone before settling herself into a seat toward the front. Occasionally, she would bring her umbrella. If Marilyn was carrying her umbrella on a bright sunny day, you could be assured it would rain, even if it hadn\u2019t been predicted by the weatherman the night before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who could have imagined that one day we\u2019d have phones that would tell us precisely when rainfall would begin and end based on our location? Yes, it\u2019s convenient and often very helpful but I miss the occasional surprise of being caught in unexpected weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rain that fell on Christmas Day was a welcome reminder that this is<\/em> the season. (Or at least it\u2019s supposed to be.) Listening to the soothing rhythm of raindrops falling outside my window brought some reassurance that things will be okay. New growth is stirring that will erase wildfire scars and winter gardens are being nourished. I love the way rain freshens the air and renews our spirits. It was fun to see a group of birds splashing in a newly formed puddle, not a care in the world. Hopefully, a period of sustained rainfall will follow soon and bring some relief from drought conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things I enjoy most about rain is the quiet that it brings; the way the heaviness in the air settles over us. In Ireland, a heavy mist or light rain is often called \u201clovely soft weather\u201d \u2013 a perfect description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m looking forward to more moody gray clouds and feeling cocooned inside during a downpour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Brenda Bellinger, a rainy day is a welcome invitation to sit down and write. Her work has appeared\u00a0in Small Farmer\u2019s Journal, Mom Egg Review, Persimmon Tree,\u00a0THEMA, the California Writers Club Literary Review, and in various anthologies.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her first novel,\u00a0Taking Root<\/a><\/em>, a coming-of-age story of betrayal and courage, is available through most local bookstores and on Amazon. Brenda blogs at brendabellinger.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note from Marlene: Brenda\u2019s Blog is a collection of thoughtful and entertaining reflections on what matters.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rinse Cycle By Brenda Bellinger Remember when we used to rely on weather forecasts that were broadcast with our nightly news? We\u2019d get a good-enough sense of when to expect rain from the fuzzy satellite image. Many years ago, I used to ride the bus to work. At one of the stops along the way, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1474],"tags":[1367,1511,1409],"class_list":["post-10107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sparks","tag-brenda-bellinger","tag-brenda-bellinger-blog","tag-taking-root"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-2D1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10107"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10109,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10107\/revisions\/10109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}