265 Rain on the roof

 

Rain on the Roof

This rainy weekend has reminded me how much I love the sound of rain on the roof. Our house has a metal roof--the sound is so soothing to sleep by.

Every time I hear that rumbling murmur, I think about the scene in the film, W.C. Fields and Me. W.C. Fields was dying in a sanitorium. His friend, former lover, and future biographer Carlotta Monti, knows he longs for the sound of rain on the roof. The shot shows him passing away peacefully in his room as he listens to the rain. Then the camera pans to the outside where Carlotta is using a garden hose to create the "rain."

There are so many sounds of nature to enjoy:

• Wind in the trees
• Crickets in the grass (not in the house!)
• Listening to bird songs while trying to spot the birds
• The who-who-who of an owl
• The rat-a-tat-tat of a woodpecker (except on the house!)
• The rush and gurgle of a brook, a stream, a river
• A waterfall
• Waves crashing on the beach

A scientific study in 2017 found that people relax when hearing the sounds of nature, but not when exposed to artificial sounds. In true Savvy-Broad mode, I googled "sounds of nature" to look for studies such as this one. I did not pursue it through too many screens because the search was filled with sounds of nature that could be downloaded. Are nature sounds artificial if recorded?

I must confess that we turn on a sound machine every night that mimics the sound of running water. We had never used one until we contemplated taking our six-month-old Jack Russell, Tootsie to a motel! We were sure that every sound in the hall would have her awake and barking all night long. The machine really worked and blocked out the stray sounds. It still does--we turn it on and she knows it is bedtime!

I need to listen more when outside and, when not; there are always memories:

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Last stanza: 

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree." William Butler Yeats

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