Rainy Morning (Encore)

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Speaker 1 Have you ever wished you could visit the village of Nothing Much? Well, this is your invitation. Join me, Catherine Nikolai, for a live virtual event on Wednesday, November 19th at 6 p.m.

Speaker 1 Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern.
It will be a cozy night of storytelling, music, and calm.

Speaker 1 I'll share three handpicked bedtime stories, including one you've never heard on the podcast, brought to life with healing music from Aya Ayal and sound designed by Bob.

Speaker 1 We'll pause between stories for guided journaling and creative moments to help you slow down, reconnect, and rest.

Speaker 1 And you'll receive exclusive extras created just for this event, including a brand new illustration from the village, thoughtful journaling prompts, and a few playful surprises to enjoy at home.

Speaker 1 If you join the Dreamer's Inner Circle, you can stay for a cozy after party where I'll answer your questions, share character updates, and reveal some behind-the-scenes stories that never made it into the podcast.

Speaker 1 You can tune in from anywhere, but it's one night only, so don't miss it. Go to PAVE.live to get your ticket.
That's p-a-ve-e.l-i-ve-e.

Speaker 1 You know those days when your brain just won't cooperate? When you're staring at your to-do list, hopping from call to call, and the mental fog just gets thicker? I've been there.

Speaker 1 And I used to reach for another coffee, only to end up jittery and then crashing later. That's why I've been trying Nature Sunshine Brain Edge.

Speaker 1 It's a clean plant-powered drink mix that blends wild-harvested yerba mate with nootropic botanicals to help with focus, memory, and mental clarity without the crash.

Speaker 1 I've used it before recording, before writing, and I noticed I could think more clearly, I could stay present, and I could actually finish what I set out to do.

Speaker 1 I like that it fits right into my wellness routine, warm and cozy in a mug or poured over ice, and it feels good to know that the yerba mate is sourced responsibly from indigenous communities in the rainforest.

Speaker 1 Plus, Nature Sunshine has over 50 years of experience sourcing pure, potent ingredients, so I trust what I'm drinking. Don't fight through feeling foggy and lethargic.

Speaker 1 Ignite your mental performance with Brain Edge. Nature Sunshine is offering 20% off your first order plus free shipping.
Go to naturesunshine.com and use code NothingMuch at checkout.

Speaker 1 That's code NothingMuch at naturesunshine.com.

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

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read

Speaker 1 all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittercheim.

Speaker 1 We are bringing you an encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment in a different location.

Speaker 1 And since I'm a person and not a computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different.

Speaker 1 But the stories are always soothing and family-friendly. And our wishes for you are always deep rest and sweet dreams.

Speaker 1 Just like a child being tucked in for bed, you're about to hear a story to send you off to dreamland.

Speaker 1 The story is meant to be a soft landing place for your mind

Speaker 1 so that instead of circling through thoughts,

Speaker 1 You can rest it in a sweet, peaceful place.

Speaker 1 I'll tell our story twice and I'll go a little bit slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you find yourself still awake at the end of the first or second telling, don't worry.

Speaker 1 Take your mind back to the beginning of the story

Speaker 1 and walk yourself back through the details that you remember.

Speaker 1 Especially any bit that felt particularly cozy.

Speaker 1 You're training your brain and body to wind down.

Speaker 1 And the more often you do it, the faster you will fall asleep.

Speaker 1 So have a bit of patience at the beginning.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Rainy Morning.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about savoring a good book from bed.

Speaker 1 It's also about resting your eyes, having the house to yourself,

Speaker 1 and looking forward to the next great read.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 it's time to turn off the light.

Speaker 1 Set everything down,

Speaker 1 even the thoughts you've carried through the day.

Speaker 1 Set them down.

Speaker 1 Take some time to cozy your body into your preferred sleeping position.

Speaker 1 Get your pillow in the exact right spot

Speaker 1 and let everything

Speaker 1 relax.

Speaker 1 Now let's take a deep breath in through the nose

Speaker 1 and a soft sigh from the mouth.

Speaker 1 Do that one more time. Breathe in

Speaker 1 and out.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Rainy morning.

Speaker 1 I was staying in bed this morning to finish the last chapters.

Speaker 1 In fact, I tried to stay up last night, but the book kept slipping out of my hands.

Speaker 1 And the third time it hit me on the forehead,

Speaker 1 it was suggested that I give up the ghost and turn out the light.

Speaker 1 I had

Speaker 1 and had slept deep,

Speaker 1 but with long, vivid dreams,

Speaker 1 in which my brain tried several times to finish the story I'd been reading.

Speaker 1 Have you ever noticed that dreams can seem sensible,

Speaker 1 reasonable,

Speaker 1 and important

Speaker 1 in the gaps of wakefulness that come during the night?

Speaker 1 Then fall apart like a piece of tissue paper and water soon after you wake.

Speaker 1 Sometimes I've held on to an idea all night,

Speaker 1 feeling that it was vital to remember,

Speaker 1 only to say it out loud in the light of day

Speaker 1 and hear how confused its logic was.

Speaker 1 Dreams must be a different world,

Speaker 1 one we understand without explanation when we're in it,

Speaker 1 but fall out of sync with when we're not.

Speaker 1 So this morning

Speaker 1 My dreams having missed the mark of my yet unfinished novel

Speaker 1 I decided to stay in bed and read to the last page

Speaker 1 Well first I needed a cup of coffee

Speaker 1 So I pulled a sweater around me and headed down to the kitchen

Speaker 1 At the bottom of the stairs, I stepped up to the window

Speaker 1 and watched a steady rain coming down.

Speaker 1 Nearly all the trees were empty now,

Speaker 1 and we finished raking and tidying the yard for the winter a week or two ago.

Speaker 1 The azaleas and rhododendrons were wrapped in burlap

Speaker 1 and looked a bit like tiny evergreens swathed in snow.

Speaker 1 I had a feeling that snow was just a few days away.

Speaker 1 This rain was likely the last one we'd see till spring.

Speaker 1 In the kitchen, I took my favorite cup down from the shelf,

Speaker 1 and as I was pouring the coffee, got a goodbye kiss.

Speaker 1 I heard the door close,

Speaker 1 and the house was quiet.

Speaker 1 What a treat.

Speaker 1 Empty house,

Speaker 1 rainy day,

Speaker 1 reading my book in bed.

Speaker 1 I carried my cup back up

Speaker 1 and slid into the still warm sheets,

Speaker 1 plumping my pillows and getting as comfortable as possible.

Speaker 1 It was dark,

Speaker 1 and before I switched on my light,

Speaker 1 I just sipped from my cup

Speaker 1 and let my eyes adjust.

Speaker 1 I reached for my book and flipped through the pages.

Speaker 1 I'd stuck in my bookmark as I was falling asleep the night before.

Speaker 1 But I'd read a few pages in that sort of zombie daze that happens when you push your eyes forward through the text,

Speaker 1 but don't absorb any of it.

Speaker 1 It's silly to be stubborn in those moments,

Speaker 1 to persist in reading when sleep is knocking on your door.

Speaker 1 At least in my experience,

Speaker 1 when my blinks get longer,

Speaker 1 there is no going back.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 I fight it sometimes like a child asking for one more glass of water before bed.

Speaker 1 I found a paragraph that looked reasonably familiar

Speaker 1 and tucking my coffee cup under my chin,

Speaker 1 began to read.

Speaker 1 The pages flew by.

Speaker 1 At some point I got up and refilled my cup.

Speaker 1 The rain continued to fall.

Speaker 1 And I wondered as I passed by the window again

Speaker 1 if it would become an icy drizzle

Speaker 1 if

Speaker 1 as it was hitting the windshields of passing cars

Speaker 1 It was landing as brief and blurry flakes

Speaker 1 before the wipers washed them away.

Speaker 1 Back in bed again,

Speaker 1 I had just a chapter left,

Speaker 1 and I was sad to see it go.

Speaker 1 Every once in a while,

Speaker 1 you get to the end of a book

Speaker 1 and grieve that you will never be able to read it for the first time again.

Speaker 1 And this was that sort of book.

Speaker 1 Still I had a few more pages,

Speaker 1 and I tried to savour them,

Speaker 1 though sometimes caught my eyes jumping ahead,

Speaker 1 rushing past a passage full of description

Speaker 1 and straight to spoken words.

Speaker 1 This book had a mystery, but was more than that.

Speaker 1 It was a tapestry of narratives

Speaker 1 woven together expertly,

Speaker 1 and in a way that left me trying to tie the loose ends together,

Speaker 1 but knowing and rather liking

Speaker 1 that I was missing something,

Speaker 1 something that would come back to shock me in the last chapter.

Speaker 1 It was a thrill,

Speaker 1 and in the end, completely satisfying.

Speaker 1 When I finished the last page,

Speaker 1 I closed the book with a sigh.

Speaker 1 Well done,

Speaker 1 I thought.

Speaker 1 I laid the book back on my table

Speaker 1 and set my empty cup down beside it.

Speaker 1 The rain still came down,

Speaker 1 and I clicked off the light

Speaker 1 and closed my eyes for a few minutes.

Speaker 1 Not quite sleeping,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 dozing between worlds.

Speaker 1 Thinking of the characters I would miss now that I was done.

Speaker 1 I imagined them,

Speaker 1 the way they would walk,

Speaker 1 the sound of their voices, where they might go

Speaker 1 in the days after their story was finished.

Speaker 1 When I opened my eyes again,

Speaker 1 the light had changed in the room,

Speaker 1 the rain had stopped,

Speaker 1 and while the clouds were still thick in the sky,

Speaker 1 the dark gloom had given over

Speaker 1 to a brighter, optimistic gray.

Speaker 1 I looked over at my finished book

Speaker 1 and remembered excitedly

Speaker 1 that I had book club in a few hours.

Speaker 1 I'd signed up at the beginning of the year after seeing a flyer downtown.

Speaker 1 It had been one of those things

Speaker 1 I'd long wondered if I would enjoy

Speaker 1 and realized that I wasn't likely to find out unless I tried.

Speaker 1 It turned out that I loved it.

Speaker 1 We met in the back room of the bookshop on the first and third Wednesday of every month month

Speaker 1 and alternated between classics, cozy mysteries,

Speaker 1 and biographies.

Speaker 1 The bookshop owner hosted us graciously with pots of tea,

Speaker 1 and we took turns bringing snacks, fresh fruit, toasted nuts, scones, and muffins.

Speaker 1 She also helped us to set a few discussion questions to get the wheels turning each time,

Speaker 1 and gave us her recommendations of new books that had just come out, and overlooked ones that deserved more attention.

Speaker 1 We would be voting tonight on our next read,

Speaker 1 and I'd been researching a bit

Speaker 1 about the options that were currently suggested

Speaker 1 it was time for a biography

Speaker 1 and there wasn't a weak candidate among them

Speaker 1 one was the story of a man who'd ventured into the arctic

Speaker 1 documenting various phenomena that had never been seen before

Speaker 1 and lived long after

Speaker 1 to see his work lead to many discoveries.

Speaker 1 Another was the story of a royal family whose dynasty had been full of fascinating twists and turns,

Speaker 1 and the aftermath that continued for centuries.

Speaker 1 The last option, and the one that had my vote,

Speaker 1 was written by a famous and beloved author

Speaker 1 who wrote the story of an important man that had nearly been forgotten.

Speaker 1 When she couldn't find a publisher to print her book,

Speaker 1 it had been locked away for eighty years

Speaker 1 and was just now finally being shared.

Speaker 1 I thought that whether or not my pick won the vote,

Speaker 1 I'd be adding that book to my stack

Speaker 1 and diving in as the winter arrived.

Speaker 1 Just a few more minutes in bed,

Speaker 1 and I'd get up and start the day.

Speaker 1 Rainy morning.

Speaker 1 I was staying in bed this morning to finish the last chapters.

Speaker 1 In fact,

Speaker 1 I'd tried to stay up last night,

Speaker 1 but the book kept slipping out of my hands.

Speaker 1 And the third time it hit me on my forehead,

Speaker 1 it was suggested that

Speaker 1 I give up the ghost

Speaker 1 and turn out the light.

Speaker 1 I had,

Speaker 1 and had slept deep,

Speaker 1 but with long, vivid dreams, in which my brain tried several times

Speaker 1 to finish the story I'd been reading.

Speaker 1 Have you ever noticed

Speaker 1 that dreams can seem sensible,

Speaker 1 reasonable,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 important

Speaker 1 in the gaps of wakefulness that come during the night,

Speaker 1 then

Speaker 1 fall apart like a piece of tissue paper in water

Speaker 1 soon after you wake.

Speaker 1 Sometimes I've held on to an idea

Speaker 1 all night,

Speaker 1 feeling that it was vital to remember

Speaker 1 only to say it out loud in the light of day

Speaker 1 and hear how confused its logic was.

Speaker 1 Dreams must be a different world

Speaker 1 one where we understand without explanation when we're in it,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 fall out of sync with when we're not.

Speaker 1 So this morning,

Speaker 1 my dreams having missed the mark of my yet unfinished novel,

Speaker 1 I decided to stay in bed and read to the last page.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 first,

Speaker 1 I needed a cup of coffee.

Speaker 1 So I pulled a sweater around me

Speaker 1 and headed down to the kitchen.

Speaker 1 At the bottom of the stairs, I stepped up to the window

Speaker 1 and watched a steady rain coming down.

Speaker 1 Nearly all the trees were empty now,

Speaker 1 and we'd finished raking and tidying the yard for the winter a week or two ago.

Speaker 1 The azaleas and rhododendrons were wrapped in burlap

Speaker 1 and looked a bit like tiny evergreens swathed in snow

Speaker 1 I had a feeling that snow was just a few days away

Speaker 1 This rain was likely the last one we'd see till spring.

Speaker 1 In the kitchen, I took my favorite cup down from the shelf,

Speaker 1 and as I was pouring the coffee, got a goodbye kiss.

Speaker 1 I heard the door close, and the house was quiet.

Speaker 1 What a treat.

Speaker 1 Empty house,

Speaker 1 rainy day,

Speaker 1 and reading my book in bed.

Speaker 1 I carried my cup back up

Speaker 1 and slid into the still warm sheets,

Speaker 1 plumping my pillows and getting as comfortable as possible.

Speaker 1 It was dark,

Speaker 1 and before I switched on my light,

Speaker 1 I just sipped from my cup

Speaker 1 and let my eyes adjust.

Speaker 1 I reached for my book. and flipped through the pages.

Speaker 1 I'd stuck in my bookmark as I was falling asleep the night before.

Speaker 1 But I'd read a few pages in that sort of zombie daze that happens when you push your eyes forward through the text,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 don't really absorb any of it.

Speaker 1 It's silly to be stubborn in those moments

Speaker 1 to persist in reading when sleep is knocking on your door.

Speaker 1 At least, in my experience,

Speaker 1 when my blinks get longer,

Speaker 1 there is

Speaker 1 no going back.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 I fight it sometimes, like a child asking for one more glass of water before bed.

Speaker 1 I found a paragraph that looked reasonably familiar,

Speaker 1 and tucking my coffee cup under my chin,

Speaker 1 began to read.

Speaker 1 The pages flew by.

Speaker 1 At some point, I got up and refilled my cup.

Speaker 1 The rain continued to fall,

Speaker 1 and I wondered as I passed by the window again, if it would become an icy drizzle,

Speaker 1 if

Speaker 1 as it was hitting the windshields of passing cars,

Speaker 1 it was landing as brief and blurry flakes before the wipers washed them away.

Speaker 1 Back in bed again, I had just a chapter left,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 I was a bit sad to see it go.

Speaker 1 Every once in a while,

Speaker 1 you get to the end of a book

Speaker 1 and grieve that you will never be able to read it for the first time again.

Speaker 1 And this was that sort of book.

Speaker 1 Still, I had a few more pages,

Speaker 1 and I tried to savor them, though sometimes caught my eyes jumping ahead,

Speaker 1 rushing past a passage full of description

Speaker 1 and straight to spoken words.

Speaker 1 This book had a mystery, but was more than that.

Speaker 1 It was a tapestry of narratives,

Speaker 1 woven together expertly and in a way that

Speaker 1 left me trying to tie the loose ends together,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 knowing

Speaker 1 and rather liking

Speaker 1 that I was missing something

Speaker 1 something

Speaker 1 that came back to shock me in the last chapter.

Speaker 1 It was a thrill,

Speaker 1 and in the end, completely satisfying.

Speaker 1 And when I finished the last page,

Speaker 1 closed the book

Speaker 1 with a sigh.

Speaker 1 Well done, I thought.

Speaker 1 I laid the book back on my table and set my empty cup down beside it.

Speaker 1 The rain was still coming down,

Speaker 1 and I clicked off the light

Speaker 1 and closed my eyes for a few minutes,

Speaker 1 not quite sleeping,

Speaker 1 but dozing between worlds,

Speaker 1 thinking of the characters I would miss now that I was done,

Speaker 1 I imagined them,

Speaker 1 the way they would walk,

Speaker 1 the sound of their voices,

Speaker 1 where they might go in the days after their story was finished.

Speaker 1 When I opened my eyes again, the light had changed in the room.

Speaker 1 The rain had stopped,

Speaker 1 and while the clouds were still thick in the sky,

Speaker 1 the dark gloom

Speaker 1 had given over to a brighter,

Speaker 1 optimistic gray.

Speaker 1 I looked over at my finished book

Speaker 1 and remembered excitedly that I had book club in a few hours.

Speaker 1 I'd signed up at the beginning of the year after seeing a flyer downtown.

Speaker 1 it had been one of those things I'd wondered if I would enjoy

Speaker 1 and realized that I wasn't likely to find out unless I tried.

Speaker 1 It turned out that I loved it.

Speaker 1 We met in the back room of the bookshop

Speaker 1 on the first and third Wednesday of every month

Speaker 1 and alternated between classics, cozy mysteries, and biographies.

Speaker 1 The bookshop owner hosted us graciously with pots of tea,

Speaker 1 and we took turns bringing snacks, fresh fruit, toasted nuts, scones, and muffins.

Speaker 1 She also helped us to set a few discussion questions to get the wheels turning each time

Speaker 1 and gave us her recommendations of new books that had just come out

Speaker 1 and overlooked ones that deserved more attention.

Speaker 1 We would be voting tonight on our next read.

Speaker 1 And I'd been researching a bit about the options that were currently suggested.

Speaker 1 It was time for a biography.

Speaker 1 And there wasn't a weak candidate among them.

Speaker 1 One

Speaker 1 was the story of a man who'd ventured into the Arctic,

Speaker 1 documenting various phenomena that had never been seen before,

Speaker 1 and lived long after

Speaker 1 to see his work

Speaker 1 lead to many discoveries.

Speaker 1 Another was the story of a royal family

Speaker 1 whose dynasty had been full of fascinating twists and turns

Speaker 1 and the aftermath that continued for centuries.

Speaker 1 The last option,

Speaker 1 and the one that had my vote,

Speaker 1 was written by a famous and beloved author

Speaker 1 who wrote the story of an important man that had nearly been forgotten

Speaker 1 when she couldn't find a publisher to print her book.

Speaker 1 It had been locked away for eighty years

Speaker 1 and was just now finally being shared.

Speaker 1 I thought that whether or not

Speaker 1 my pick won the vote,

Speaker 1 I'd be adding her book to my stack

Speaker 1 and diving in as the winter arrived.

Speaker 1 Just a few more minutes in bed,

Speaker 1 and I'd get up

Speaker 1 and start the day

Speaker 1 sweet dreams.