Rain on the Lake
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Transcript
Speaker 1 Get more, nothing much happens with bonus episodes, extra-long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.
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Speaker 2
Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans, or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with Life Lock.
Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com/slash podcast.
Speaker 2 Terms apply.
Speaker 1 The holidays can be a lot, can't they?
Speaker 1 For business owners, especially, this time of year can go from cozy to chaotic. Fast.
Speaker 1
I remember my first holiday rush. I was so worried something would break.
The website, the checkout, my own brain.
Speaker 1
But that's when I learned what a difference the right tools can make. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world.
About 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S.
Speaker 1 Whether you're just opening your virtual doors or you're running a full-blown store, Shopify helps you take the holidays from chaos to cha-ching.
Speaker 1 There are thousands of templates and tools to make your your site beautiful and functional.
Speaker 1 AI tools to help write product descriptions and headlines, and built-in marketing support so your voice doesn't get lost in the noise.
Speaker 1 Plus, you can relax knowing Shopify's award-winning customer service is there 24-7 if anything comes up. So make this Black Friday one to remember.
Speaker 1 Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com/slash nothing much.
Speaker 1 That's shopify.com/slash nothing nothing much.
Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone
Speaker 1 in which
Speaker 1 nothing much happens.
Speaker 1 You feel good
Speaker 1 and then you fall asleep.
Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.
Speaker 1 I create everything you hear on Nothing Much Happens.
Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittercheim.
Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week. And this week we are giving to United 24,
Speaker 1 which works to unite the world around supporting Ukraine in an effort to protect, save, and rebuild. You can learn more in our show notes.
Speaker 1
Thanks to some recent premium subscribers. Thank you, Aiden.
Thank you Karna.
Speaker 1 Kyle and Mary. Thank you.
Speaker 1 Your support means so much to us.
Speaker 1
As always, you can subscribe to our premium for ad-free and bonus episodes. It's super affordable.
It's literally about a dime a day.
Speaker 1 And the links are in our show notes.
Speaker 1
I have a story to tell you. It is a soft place to rest your mind.
And just by listening,
Speaker 1 you'll condition a reliable response in your nervous system to fall asleep and return to sleep easily.
Speaker 1 This is a form of brain training.
Speaker 1 So be patient if you are new to this.
Speaker 1 I'll read the story twice,
Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.
Speaker 1 If you wake again later in the night, think back through any part of the story you can remember.
Speaker 1 Or just push play again.
Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Rain on the Lake.
Speaker 1
And it's a story about a sudden arrival of drops and dark clouds. on a spring afternoon.
It's also about a brooch and a jewelry box.
Speaker 1 The smell of rain mixing with lake water.
Speaker 1 Mist
Speaker 1 and lamps lit in the darkness.
Speaker 1 Memories of rainbows and rowboats and taking rest as showers move across the horizon.
Speaker 1 Now,
Speaker 1 lights out, campers.
Speaker 1 It's time.
Speaker 1 Snuggle down and get as comfortable as you can.
Speaker 1 Tuck yourself in with care.
Speaker 1 You, as much as any other soul in the universe,
Speaker 1 deserve rest and relaxation to feel safe and cared for.
Speaker 1 So let my voice be a sort of guardian.
Speaker 1 My stories will watch over you
Speaker 1 as you sleep.
Speaker 1 Take a slow breath in through your nose
Speaker 1 and let it out.
Speaker 1 Do one more breathe in
Speaker 1 and release it.
Speaker 1 Good
Speaker 1 rain
Speaker 1 on the lake.
Speaker 1 I thought
Speaker 1 all I wanted was sunshine
Speaker 1 after a long monochrome winter.
Speaker 1 The ice and snow and sky all mirroring each other.
Speaker 1 I thought I only wanted to see bright golden sunbeams
Speaker 1 and velvety green yards and bluebirds.
Speaker 1 But when I heard the rain falling on the roof this afternoon
Speaker 1 and felt the clouds closing in,
Speaker 1 I softened,
Speaker 1 relaxing in a way I hadn't lately.
Speaker 1 I'd been pottering around the house,
Speaker 1 following one small chore to another.
Speaker 1 A sweater laid over the back of a dining-room chair
Speaker 1 led me up to the closet
Speaker 1 where I'd started to sort through a jewelry box.
Speaker 1 I'd found a broken brooch
Speaker 1 and a watch in need of a new battery.
Speaker 1 They'd led me back downstairs
Speaker 1 to stash them in my purse
Speaker 1 and the hopes I'd remember to take them to the repair shop on my next trip into town
Speaker 1 in the kitchen I tipped the dregs of the last pot of coffee down the drain
Speaker 1 and rinsed the graph
Speaker 1 then wandered into the living room with a dust cloth to wipe down the bookshelf
Speaker 1 and framed photos on the mantle
Speaker 1 That's when the light began to change
Speaker 1 and the rain sounded on the roof
Speaker 1 I walked over to the window with a frame and a cloth still in hand
Speaker 1 and Looked down toward the lake
Speaker 1 The bright colors of spring were shaded over
Speaker 1 by thick clouds,
Speaker 1 but rather than dimming my mood,
Speaker 1 it felt like a relief,
Speaker 1 like a cool cloth
Speaker 1 over tired eyes.
Speaker 1 More than a sprinkle,
Speaker 1 not quite a storm.
Speaker 1 A solid shower was spreading over the lake,
Speaker 1 And I became mesmerized,
Speaker 1 watching the surface of the water
Speaker 1 ripple and shimmer as it came down.
Speaker 1 I remembered swimming in the rain as a kid,
Speaker 1 on days that had started out as hot and sunny,
Speaker 1 when a sudden shift of clouds would block out the bright day
Speaker 1 and raindrops fell all around me
Speaker 1 One summer, we'd had a little inflatable boat
Speaker 1 just big enough for me and my friend from down the street to fit into.
Speaker 1 We'd paddle around in the shallow water,
Speaker 1 pretending to be explorers,
Speaker 1 adventurers, discovering unknown species of fish and fowl.
Speaker 1 On days that the rain came,
Speaker 1 we'd bail out of the boat and flip it over.
Speaker 1 We'd swim under it,
Speaker 1 our heads poking up into the bubble of air, trapped beneath the inverted seats.
Speaker 1 Our voices echoed funnily in the small space.
Speaker 1 And we'd been full of jokes
Speaker 1 that only made sense to us.
Speaker 1 The sound of the rain on the keel
Speaker 1 made me feel cozy
Speaker 1 and safe,
Speaker 1 even while we stood chest deep in water.
Speaker 1 At some point, a parent would begin beckoning us us out of the lake,
Speaker 1 telling us to come wrap up in a towel and wait for the rain to pass over.
Speaker 1 But by then the water felt warmer than the air,
Speaker 1 and we'd stall
Speaker 1 and weasel a few more minutes into the deal.
Speaker 1 If the weather changed quickly,
Speaker 1 a rainbow might spread across the sky.
Speaker 1 Something that seemed
Speaker 1 so much like magic.
Speaker 1 I'd stare at it
Speaker 1 with a bit of skepticism,
Speaker 1 as if it were a joke
Speaker 1 that would be revealed as such at some point.
Speaker 1 All of these thoughts had passed through my head in a few seconds,
Speaker 1 watching the rain fall on the lake.
Speaker 1 I found I wanted to get closer,
Speaker 1 to feel the air,
Speaker 1 to smell the lake as the drops came down,
Speaker 1 and I stepped out onto the back porch in my slippers.
Speaker 1 It was screened in
Speaker 1 and had just recently had its spring cleaning.
Speaker 1 The wicker chairs and tables were wiped down
Speaker 1 and the cushions laundered and plumped.
Speaker 1 I realized I still held the photo and cloth from my dusting and set them on a table
Speaker 1 and went close to the screens.
Speaker 1 A fine mist of water
Speaker 1 landed on my glasses and cheeks and I laughed.
Speaker 1 I pulled my glasses from my face and wiped the lenses on my shirt,
Speaker 1 but stayed close to the screens,
Speaker 1 liking the cool touch of the rain
Speaker 1 and the scent of the lake.
Speaker 1 I could smell moss
Speaker 1 and water-logged tree trunks.
Speaker 1 In the distance the sky was even darker,
Speaker 1 and I thought this shower might actually become a storm
Speaker 1 that lightning and thunder
Speaker 1 might literally be on the horizon.
Speaker 1 I wasn't cold,
Speaker 1 not yet at least,
Speaker 1 and I walked along the length of the porch,
Speaker 1 peering closely at the flower beds,
Speaker 1 drinking up all this good water.
Speaker 1 Then into the reedy line at the edge of the lake,
Speaker 1 where I spotted a long-legged egret,
Speaker 1 bright white
Speaker 1 against the green and gray of the water.
Speaker 1 What was the experience of a bird or a fish
Speaker 1 on a day like today?
Speaker 1 If you have ever seen a horse running unrestrained on a beach,
Speaker 1 then you know the joy that animals can take in movement.
Speaker 1 And I wondered what it might be like
Speaker 1 to soar near a rainbow
Speaker 1 or to swim just below the surface
Speaker 1 as gentle rain fell.
Speaker 1 The sound of the rain rushing down suddenly doubled,
Speaker 1 and a gust of cooler wind raced through the screens.
Speaker 1 All right, then, I thought.
Speaker 1 Enough. I'll go back in.
Speaker 1 I picked up the frame and my desk cloth
Speaker 1 and stepped back into the house,
Speaker 1 pulling the door to the porch tightly behind me.
Speaker 1 I remembered a window open in a room on the second floor
Speaker 1 and rushed up the stairs to nudge it closed.
Speaker 1 Small puddles lay on the sill,
Speaker 1 and I used my cloth to mop them up.
Speaker 1 On the way back down,
Speaker 1 I switched on a few lamps.
Speaker 1 I liked the gloom that the storm had brought,
Speaker 1 but I also liked a bit of glow here and there.
Speaker 1 I think I was revisiting that feeling
Speaker 1 of being under the boat in the rain,
Speaker 1 a little pocket
Speaker 1 of a different kind of feeling
Speaker 1 in a sea of something bigger.
Speaker 1 I dropped my now damp dust cloth down the laundry chute
Speaker 1 and set the photo on the mantle.
Speaker 1 If I tried,
Speaker 1 I knew I could come up with more tasks to attend to.
Speaker 1 But just now
Speaker 1 the sound of the rain,
Speaker 1 the blotted out sun,
Speaker 1 the flash of lightning on the far edge of the lake.
Speaker 1 They all seemed to beckon me to my favorite spot on the sofa.
Speaker 1 I tossed a long blanket over me as I stretched out,
Speaker 1 turning on to one side
Speaker 1 and pulling a throw pillow under my head.
Speaker 1 I'd wondered about the joy of animals and movement
Speaker 1 and now I thought of them at rest.
Speaker 1 A scurry of squirrels
Speaker 1 cuddled together in the knot of a tree.
Speaker 1 Otter clubs
Speaker 1 napping on the bellies of their parents.
Speaker 1 all of us
Speaker 1 letting the rain fall around us
Speaker 1 as we slept.
Speaker 1 Rain
Speaker 1 on the lake.
Speaker 1 I thought
Speaker 1 all I wanted
Speaker 1 was sunshine
Speaker 1 after a long
Speaker 1 monochrome winter
Speaker 1 the ice
Speaker 1 and snow
Speaker 1 and sky
Speaker 1 all mirroring each other
Speaker 1 I thought
Speaker 1 I only wanted to see bright golden sunbeams
Speaker 1 and velvety green lawns
Speaker 1 and bluebirds
Speaker 1 But when I heard the rain falling on the roof this afternoon
Speaker 1 And felt the clouds closing in
Speaker 1 I softened
Speaker 1 Relaxing in a way
Speaker 1 I hadn't lately
Speaker 1 I'd been pottering around the house,
Speaker 1 following one small chore
Speaker 1 to another.
Speaker 1 A sweater
Speaker 1 laid over the back
Speaker 1 of a dining-room chair
Speaker 1 led me up into the closet,
Speaker 1 where I'd started to sort through a jewelry box.
Speaker 1 I'd found a broken broken brooch
Speaker 1 and a watch in need of a new battery.
Speaker 1 They'd led me back downstairs
Speaker 1 to stash them in my purse
Speaker 1 in the hopes I'd remembered to take them to the repair shop
Speaker 1 on my next trip into town.
Speaker 1 In the kitchen, I tipped the dregs of the last pot of coffee down the drain
Speaker 1 and rinsed the carafe,
Speaker 1 then wandered into the living room
Speaker 1 with a dust cloth to wipe down the bookshelf
Speaker 1 and framed photos on the mantel.
Speaker 1 That's when the light began to change
Speaker 1 and the rain sounded on the roof.
Speaker 1 I walked over to the window with the frame and the cloth still in hand
Speaker 1 and looked down toward the lake.
Speaker 1 The bright colours of spring
Speaker 1 were shaded over by thick clouds.
Speaker 1 But rather than dimming my mood,
Speaker 1 it felt like a relief,
Speaker 1 like a cool cloth
Speaker 1 over tired eyes.
Speaker 1 More than a sprinkle,
Speaker 1 not quite a storm.
Speaker 1 A solid shower was spreading over the lake
Speaker 1 and I became mesmerized
Speaker 1 watching the surface of the water ripple
Speaker 1 and shimmer as it came down.
Speaker 1 I remembered swimming in the rain as a kid
Speaker 1 on days that had started out
Speaker 1 as hot and sunny
Speaker 1 when a sudden shift of clouds would block out the bright day
Speaker 1 and raindrops fell all around me
Speaker 1 One summer we'd had
Speaker 1 a little inflatable boat
Speaker 1 just big enough for me
Speaker 1 and my friend from down the street to fit into.
Speaker 1 We'd paddle around in the shallow water,
Speaker 1 pretending to be explorers,
Speaker 1 adventurers, discovering unknown species of fish and fowl.
Speaker 1 On days that the rain came,
Speaker 1 we'd bail out of the boat and flip it over
Speaker 1 and swim under it,
Speaker 1 our heads poking up into the bubble of air,
Speaker 1 trapped beneath the inverted seats.
Speaker 1 Our voices echoed funnily in the small space,
Speaker 1 and we'd been full of jokes that only made sense to us.
Speaker 1 The sound of rain on the keel
Speaker 1 made me feel cozy and safe,
Speaker 1 even while we stood chest deep in the water.
Speaker 1 At some point a parent would begin beckoning us out of the lake,
Speaker 1 telling us to come,
Speaker 1 wrap up in a towel,
Speaker 1 wait for the rain to pass over.
Speaker 1 But by then
Speaker 1 the water felt warmer than the air,
Speaker 1 and we'd stall and weasel a few more minutes into the deal.
Speaker 1 If the weather changed quickly,
Speaker 1 a rainbow might spread across the sky.
Speaker 1 Something that had seemed
Speaker 1 so much like magic
Speaker 1 might stare at it with a bit of skepticism,
Speaker 1 as if it were a joke that would be revealed as such at some point.
Speaker 1 All of these thoughts
Speaker 1 had passed through my head
Speaker 1 in just a few seconds
Speaker 1 as I watched the rain fall on the lake.
Speaker 1 I found I wanted to get closer,
Speaker 1 to feel the air,
Speaker 1 to smell the lake as the drops came down.
Speaker 1 And I stepped out
Speaker 1 onto the back porch in my slippers.
Speaker 1 It was screened in
Speaker 1 and had just recently had its spring cleaning.
Speaker 1 The wicker chairs and tables were wiped down,
Speaker 1 and the cushions laundered and and plumped.
Speaker 1 I realized I still held the photo and cloth from my dusting
Speaker 1 and set them on a table
Speaker 1 and went close to the screens.
Speaker 1 A fine mist of water landed on my glasses and cheeks
Speaker 1 and I laughed.
Speaker 1 I pulled my glasses from my face
Speaker 1 and wiped the lenses on my shirt,
Speaker 1 but stayed close to the screens,
Speaker 1 liking the cool touch of the rain
Speaker 1 and the scent of the lake.
Speaker 1 I could smell moss
Speaker 1 and water-logged tree trunks.
Speaker 1 In the distance the sky was even darker.
Speaker 1 And I thought this shower might actually become a storm.
Speaker 1 That lightning and thunder
Speaker 1 might literally be on the horizon.
Speaker 1 I wasn't cold
Speaker 1 not yet at least.
Speaker 1 When I walked along the length length of the porch,
Speaker 1 peering closely at the flower beds,
Speaker 1 drinking up all this good water.
Speaker 1 Then into the reedy line at the edge of the lake,
Speaker 1 where I spotted a long-legged egret,
Speaker 1 bright white against the green and grey of the water.
Speaker 1 What was the experience of a bird or a fish
Speaker 1 on a day like today?
Speaker 1 If you have ever seen a horse
Speaker 1 running unrestrained on a beach,
Speaker 1 then you know the joy that animals can take in movement.
Speaker 1 And I wondered
Speaker 1 what it might be like
Speaker 1 To soar near a rainbow
Speaker 1 or swim
Speaker 1 just below the surface
Speaker 1 as gentle rain fell
Speaker 1 The sound of the rain rushing down suddenly doubled,
Speaker 1 and a gust of cooler wind raced through the screens.
Speaker 1 All right then, I thought,
Speaker 1 enough.
Speaker 1 I'll go back in.
Speaker 1 I picked up the frame and the dust cloth
Speaker 1 and stepped back into the house,
Speaker 1 pulling the door to the porch tightly behind me.
Speaker 1 I remembered a window open on the second floor
Speaker 1 and rushed up the stairs to nudge it closed.
Speaker 1 Small puddles lay on the sill,
Speaker 1 and I used my cloth to mop them up.
Speaker 1 On the way back down,
Speaker 1 I switched on a few lamps.
Speaker 1 I liked the gloom that the storm had brought,
Speaker 1 but I also liked a bit of glow here and there.
Speaker 1 I think I was revisiting that feeling
Speaker 1 of being under the boat
Speaker 1 in the rain,
Speaker 1 a little pocket
Speaker 1 of a different kind of feeling
Speaker 1 in a sea of something bigger.
Speaker 1 I dropped my now damp dust cloth
Speaker 1 down the laundry chute
Speaker 1 and set the photo on the mantel.
Speaker 1 If I tried,
Speaker 1 I knew I could come up with more tasks to attend to.
Speaker 1 But just now,
Speaker 1 the sound of the rain,
Speaker 1 the blotted-out sun,
Speaker 1 the flash of lightning on the far edge of the lake.
Speaker 1 They all seemed to beckon me
Speaker 1 to my favorite spot on the sofa.
Speaker 1 I tossed a long blanket over me as I stretched out,
Speaker 1 turning onto one side
Speaker 1 and pulling a throw pillow under my head.
Speaker 1 I'd wondered about the joy of animals
Speaker 1 in movement.
Speaker 1 And now I thought of them at rest.
Speaker 1 A scurry of squirrels
Speaker 1 cuddled together in the knot of a tree,
Speaker 1 otter cubs napping on the bellies of their parents,
Speaker 1 all of us
Speaker 1 letting the rain fall around us
Speaker 1 as we slept.
Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.
