Rain can be a justified time-out, and today is a continuation of a mood that began around 1am this morning. It was the kind of night that left me before I was ready to leave it. I got home, put on some Leonard Cohen, mixed a gin & tonic, rolled a cigarette, and sat in dim light that reflected perfectly against my tin ceiling. Something about the swirl of the smoke paired with the soft sound of rain behind Leonard's voice made me forget about my now watered-down cocktail.

There's no such thing as "bad weather" if it's all relative to your mood. As a friend of mine likes to remind me, most of the great writers came from the darkest and coldest parts of the world, which makes complete sense to me. Rain works for some, sunshine works for others. So I'm sitting here smiling today because it's a lovely pale shade of gray outside, and the rain is gently pounding against the metal awning below my front windows. The muted tones make the bright fall red and gold tree-tops pop, like isolated color in an otherwise black & white photo.