WHAT DO YOU DO ON A RAINY DAY (FOR GROWN-UPS)?

I can see right away there’s going to be some confusion here.

After all, who among us is grown up? Or even wants to be?

So my ideas about fun on a rainy day is for the young at heart, the inner child, or just for folks who get bored when it’s raining (again!?).

We’re once more in a round of rainy-days-all-in-a-row. Like Seattle from September to May, so I hear. (I’ve been to Seattle in the summer, July and August, and it’s just a nice place, sunny, not too hot, nice breeze off Puget Sound . . . .) Anyway, here in the upper Midwest there’s a Seattle-feel to the season. Temps rarely get above 80. Rain falls nearly every day, and when it does arrive, it brings several days’ worth of luggage and outstays its welcome. The upside is that everything blooms—and blooms—and blooms—and blooms. Grass grows, and I no longer exaggerate when I say it’s an inch a day.

Thus it is that we have to find things to do that accommodate our temporary (perhaps) climate change. See if any of these resonate with you:

1.       Read the latest bestseller in your chosen genre. If you don’t have it, download it from the Internet—no shipping charges. (You’ll need an e-reader, of course, so if you don’t have one, you’ll have to find some other book to read. Next time the sun shines, go buy an e-reader.)

2.       Clean out a closet/cupboard/garage/boat/car/cedar chest/bookshelf . . . you’ll feel virtuous and hardly notice your lawn is now a lake.

3.       Cook something you seldom have time to make. How do scones sound? With a pot of fragrant tea, a visit with a friend on Google Chat; feet up, shoes off.

4.       Do something old-style: write a long letter to a friend (longhand or typewritten, both count) or bake a cake from scratch. Make up your own old-time activity.

5.       While you’re cleaning out that closet (#2 above), try on those pants and shirts you thought you were going to lose (or gain) enough weight to get into. If you haven’t worn them in a year, share them with somebody else, via Goodwill, Salvation Army, or some other venue. Many churches have a “clothes closet” ministry.

6.       If you’re creative, work on a painting, poem, or clay pot. Cut out quilt pieces or a shirt. Rev up the circular saw or router and make things out of wood. No ideas pop into your head? Give yourself permission to surf the ‘Web for ideas. (Better set a timer—that surfing is addictive, but you already know, don’t you?)

7.       Teach yourself something new—how to tie flies for fishing; how to sand a floor so it doesn’t have ripples in it (harder than you think); how to make wine at home without a lot of expensive equipment; how to build a deck onto your house. If DIY isn’t your thing, look for self-improvement ideas: read about building healthy relationships, memorize a psalm or poem, do crossword or jigsaw puzzles; practice smiling with a mirror. (That one’s scary.)

There’s a whole week’s worth of ideas. If you don’t find any of them to your taste, make your own list. Start with three. Write them down. Give them a title: “Three Things I Always Wanted to Do” or “Three Ways to Avoid Doing Housework” or “Three Things I’ve Learned in My Life.”

You don’t actually have to do any of these things. But you’ve managed to quit cussing the rain for a few hours while you worked up your list. Or read mine. Or actually used one of these suggestions.

These work well for when we’re snowed in as well as rained in.

And if you can’t think of anything to do, there’s always good ol’ napping. Works every time.

Have a nice (even if rainy) day!