Posted on in Historical, holidays, travel

Kingdoms and castles

I just returned from a glorious two-week vacation to Scotland. You can’t visit Scotland without visiting some castles (some call it an “ABC” tour—“Another Bloody Castle”) and we toured several, including one yacht, the Royal Yacht Britannia.

In Europe, there are two kinds of castles: fortresses that served as settlements and outposts built for military reasons to keep out invaders, and castles typically built later in the 1700s and 1800s as grand estates. The last time I visited Scotland in the 80’s, I was very fortunate to have a private tour and tea at one of these grand estates, Brodie Castle in Forres.

The allure of a castle is hard to resist. History, mystery, intrigue and magnificent architecture, set at a stunning location. As you walk on the grey cobbled stones that have stood the test of time, close your eyes and you are transported to a time when royals reigned, nobles ruled and servants sweltered and swept in bustling constant motion. Throw in some dungeons, tales of valour, deceit and death, and ghosts, and the enchantment is complete.

Here were some of the castles we visited this trip:

Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven: the hike to this castle from the picturesque seaside village of Stonehaven is stunning, along sea cliffs and farmers fields with flowing grasses and sheep and cows grazing. Perched on a 160 foot high rock and surrounded on three sides by the North Sea, the castle itself is largely ruins, but you still get a feel for the settlement that once thrived on the site. William Wallace attacked an English settlement in 1297 here.

Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven

Eilean Donan Castle near the bridge to the Isle of Skye: built in the mid thirteenth century on an island, this is one of the most photographed castles in Scotland, next to Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. Just as we were leaving, two stealth fighter jets flew over the castle at the speed of sound, leaving us breathless. Pro travel tip: we arrived later in the day when the ticket gate was closed so were able to wander around the grounds for free.

Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland

Balmoral Castle, in Cairngorns National Park (pictured at top). The Scottish vacation home of the Royal Family, this 55,000 hectare park features the royal residence, gardens and acres and acres of rugged parkland.

Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye: home to the MacLeod clan for eight centuries, this castle served both a military purpose and as a stately home, with grand living areas, bedrooms and family heirlooms and antiques. (When I was visiting, one of the staff had to kindly ask a young gentleman to put down the 250-year old serving tureen he picked up to examine!) You can even stay at one of six holiday cottages on site.

Dunvegan Castle on Isle of Skye

Edinburgh Castle: one of the oldest fortresses in Europe, Edinburgh Castle has served as a garrison, royal residence, fortress and prison. Its chapel dates back to 1093. It is also home to the Scottish crown jewels. I enjoyed listening to the musician on site play various ancient instruments, including the hurdy gurdy. The photo below is taken from the Grassmarket, a trendy pub area beneath the castle.

Edinburgh Castle
Musician in Edinburgh Castle

This week’s #HappyAct is to pretend you are a king or queen for the day and visit a castle. If you can’t travel overseas, here are a few options closer to home:

  • Boldt Castle, in Alexandria Bay, New York or by boat from Rockport or Gananoque (**passport required**): built on an island by George Boldt, the owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at the turn of the century for his new bride, this castle is still the jewel of the Thousand Islands.
  • Casa Loma in Toronto: built in 1914 by financier Sir Henry Pellatt and now owned by the City of Toronto, the 200,000 square foot castle is an excellent example of European elegance and grandeur. Be sure to check out their special events, like symphony in the gardens and sunset concerts.
  • Dundurn Castle in Hamilton: built in the 1830s, this 40-room palace was home to Sir Allan Napier MacNab, railway magnate, lawyer and Premier of the United Canadas (1854-1856).
Posted on in dogs, family, humour, parenting, work

Lessons in parenting, dog rearing, and leadership

Dog and teenager

Years ago, when my kids were young, I wanted to write a book called “700 Ways Raising Kids and Dogs are the Same”. I didn’t because it’s already been written.

But as my dogs and children grew old and I progressed in my career, my belief that the same principles for being a good parent, dog owner, and leader became even more steadfast. These are the principles:

  • Trust is the foundation of everything
  • Just when you think you have a handle on things, know things will change
  • If you set clear expectations, it will usually get done, but probably not on your timeline
  • Food is a great motivator
  • Treat them equally, but different, and give them your full support
  • Seek and capitalize on their strengths, instead of focusing on what they can do better
  • The best ideas come from the most unusual places (in the case of children, never underestimate their creativity or intelligence)
  • Always be yourself: you can never hide who you truly are—they’ll know
  • Be present—it’s the best gift you can give them
  • There is no substitute for love and encouragement

This week’s #HappyAct is show love and encouragement at work and at home (and when all else fails, bribe them with some treats).

A final note on parenting: I read only one parenting book and listened to one audiotape before we had kids. I remember one story about a father trying to get their teenage son to put the garbage out each week. Every week, he’d remind the kid it was garbage day and to put the garbage out. The teenager kept forgetting. Then one day, the kid put the garbage out. When the father looked surprised, the kid said, “What? It’s my job.” The kid put it out every week after.

Posted on in Food and drink, humour

A kid in a candy store

Bonds of London Rhubarb and Custard candy

Confession time. I am an addict. I am a candy-a-holic.

It’s been 12 hours since I had my last candy (and it’s only 8 o’clock in the morning).

My favourite hit lately has been a handful of black balls followed by a bump of humbugs, right before bedtime.

The inscription on my tombstone will read, “She died doing what she loved best. Choking on a black ball.”

The OG of candy is penny candy. Before Stephen Harper’s Conservatives got rid of the penny in 2013, a penny could still buy something.

Every time we would go to a cottage or on a road trip, we would stock up on penny candy. Dave and I once drove all the way to Yellowstone National Park on a tub of sour keys and ju jubes.

At the cottage, penny candy is like gold. Sometimes it’s for sharing, sometimes it’s for hoarding. We’ve even had people steal each other’s penny candy in the dead of the night, or worse in broad daylight. The screams of horror and dismay were heard across the lake when the victims discovered their stash was stolen the next morning.

Some friends invite people over for beers and charcuterie, our friends would invite people on the island over for watermelon and peach sours, strawberry and banana cream chews and black balls.

You can spot a candyhead a mile away. I once worked with a guy who went to the gym every day at lunch. This isn’t noteworthy, except for the fact Mike hated working out. I asked him if he hated going to the gym every day, why did he do it? He had an addiction to candy and refused to give it up, so the only way he could manage his weight was to work out every day.

Not all penny candy or candy stores are created equal. Black balls are like a rare black pearl in the candy world. Not all candy shops carry them.

At 60 years of age, I am still discovering new sugar sensations. On our last trip to the Maritimes, I discovered Bonds of London Rhubarb and Custard “sugar-coated rhubarb and vanilla flavoured boiled sweets” (the British have such a lovely way of making candy sound high-brow). Absolutely divine.

Then there are brands that keep reinventing themselves, like Popeye cigarettes, or “candy sticks” which changed their name in 2000 when they realized promoting smoking with kids was maybe not a good idea.

Remember jawbreakers (or gobstoppers if you’re in the United States)? In Grade 8 at lunch time, we’d go to the local convenience store and buy these long-lasting treats that resembled a golf ball with layers and layers of flavours inside them. They were so hard, you could lose a filling if you stopped sucking and chomped down on one. (Fun fact: if you google jawbreaker, one of the searches that comes up is “Can a jawbreaker stop a bullet?”)

You also must have discerning taste when it comes to where you satiate your sugar rush. You have your new, modern high-brow stores like I Love Sugar in Myrtle Beach or Ricardo’s Kandy Korner in the Eaton Centre in Toronto. Sure, they have bins and bins of candy and spaces so sterile you could eat candy you dropped by accident or on purpose right off the floor, but I prefer the good ol’ fashioned general store candy with creaky wooden floors, bins with proper lids, and tiny pincers to fish for the perfect treasure.

Yes, there are Allsorts of candy in this world, you just need to be a kid in a candy store to reach for the sugar high.

Ed note: An interesting side note, one of my most read blog posts is The Ultimate Frozen Treat on the Lola. Do you remember Lolas? Still miss them!

Posted on in humour, parenting

Blame it on your kids

Two teenagers standing on a pier at dusk

A few months ago, I was sick as a rabid dog for two weeks with a nasty cold, the second time this year. One of my neighbours asked whether the reason I’ve been sick so much was because my body was finally deregulating after years of accumulated stress from working, and now that I’m retired, I’m more susceptible to colds and flus.

I said no, the reason I get so sick now is I had bronchitis when I was pregnant with Clare, and that compounded with COVID has weakened my immune system for battling chest colds.

I blamed it on Clare.

Blaming your kids for everything from getting sick to having a messy house, to being late for dinner is a rite of passage for parents. It’s one of the reasons we have kids (and dogs for that matter).

If your pristine kitchen looks like a dumpster accident by dinnertime, blame it on the kids.

Missing your favourite Roots hoodie? It must be in that mound of clothing growing like a Chia pet on steroids in your teenager’s closet.

Running late? It’s not your fault. If you didn’t have to remember backpacks, water bottles, extra clothes, toys, and enough snacks to feed an orphanage every time you left the house, you’d be early for that appointment.

Broke? Don’t even worry about making an excuse. Having kids is like attaching a Dyson vacuum directly to your bank account. Everything you own gets sucked into the universe.

You can also blame your kids to your advantage. Say you don’t want to attend a boring family reunion or work party. Make up some excuse about needing to take little Susie or Jimmy to their piano recital or big game, and not only are you forgiven, you are a hero, sacrificing your own fun for your kids. 

The great thing about blaming kids is you can even blame them for something they didn’t do today because they probably did it years ago. (This works for spouses too).

Say you’re late for work, and it has nothing to do with your kids. You can still blame it on them. They’ve probably made you late a gazillion times in your lifetime. Go ahead. Blame them with a clear conscience, without compunction or guilt. The little or big cretons deserve it.

There is one thing you should know about blaming everything on your kids. When they become adults, they turn the tables and start blaming everything on you.

This week’s #HappyAct is to play the blame game and have some fun with it. Just don’t blame the messenger. Have a happy week!

Posted on in Food and drink, travel

Hot diggedy dog

Canada Day is just around the corner, and nothing says summer more than the most unpretentious of barbecue delicacies, the hot dog.

My brother was legendary at eating hot dogs. He once ate 17 hot dogs at a friend’s barbecue when we were kids.

To celebrate summer and pay homage to the humble hot dog, I recently visited the mecca of franks, Easterbrooks Hot Dog Stand in Burlington.

Easterbrooks has been serving up hot dogs for 95 years. And not just any dogs, footlong weiner masterpieces like the Tear Jerker, a 12 inch dog topped with pepper jack cheese, jalapenos and chipotle sauce and The Belly Buster, topped with melted cheese, mustard, bacon, fried onion, chili and tomato.

When you drive into their parking lot, you feel like you’ve been transported back in time to the 1950s. Red picnic tables pepper the front of the small white building that looks like it belongs more in a beach movie than in a nice neighbourhood in Burlington.

The inside of the place looks like a 50’s diner too with black and white checkered paint and tiles, Coca Cola Classic signs and newspaper clippings all over the wall. A chalkboard at the end of the counter proudly proclaims “Since 1930 we have served over 1823 miles of hot dogs”.

Inside of Easterbrooks hot dog stand

Easterbrooks first opened in 1926 when its matriarch, Mable Easterbrook opened a tea room. In 1930, she started selling hot dogs and the family-run business has been selling dogs ever since (one of the owners brought out our order).

I ordered a Hound Dog, a 12-inch dog with aged cheddar, peameal bacon and sauerkraut while Dave, the OG hot dog lover, went for The Original. The dogs were tasty, but it was the fresh bun with the light crust on the outside and delicious soft chewy inside that made their offerings top dogs worthy of best in show. Their fries were delicious too, not oily, but crispy with a light-coated topping.

As we sat outside toasting the start of summer, all I could think of was how much my brother would have loved this place.

This week’s #HappyAct is to have a hot diggedy dog summer. I hope there are some franks in your future this weekend. Happy Canada Day!

hot dogs
Posted on in community, dogs, mental health, nature, parenting, travel

Stroll in a city park

trees and path in park

If you want to get a feel for a place, spend an afternoon in a city park.

A city park is a refuge, a place to exercise, play, eat, rest, and reflect. It’s a place where neighbours, friends, strangers, and lovers meet. It’s a special place that is often the life and heartbeat of the city and the community.

When I travel, one of the first things I like to do is take a stroll in a city park. Whether it’s Regent Park in London, Central Park in New York, or Stanley Park in Vancouver, I love exploring the meandering paths and watching the people and activity going on.

Gage Park in Hamilton has been my strolling ground lately since we are housesitting for Dave’s sister. Here’s what I’ve observed during my morning walks.

Conversations.

An older couple sit on a bench talking to a homeless man. He shares his experience of living in shelters across the country, from Charlottetown to Saint John to Hamilton. He spends part of every day at the Salvation Army. His voice breaks when he tells a story about being chased by street gangs downtown.

Two young mothers pushing strollers walk briskly, sharing confidences. “I’m always thinking, what can I do tomorrow to keep him entertained so I don’t lose my mind. Where’s me? I feel like I’ve lost me becoming a Mom.” The lament of every young mother. I say to them in my head, “Don’t worry, you’ll find yourself again.”

A man wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat. He doesn’t think their chances are good this year. We chat about the weather and he asks Siri for the forecast, which is very detailed, chance of showers later in the day with a heat wave blazing toward us by the weekend. He used to work on a chicken farm on Starr’s Island in Port Perry and loves dogs. He takes the bus to the park.

Sights, sounds, and smells.

The fragrant scent of lilacs and peonies and roses and the surprising smell of vinegar in the rose garden.

Birdsong. Robins chirping in the trees. A cardinal singing, brightly welcoming the morning.

Black squirrels with brown tails and grey squirrels with black tails chasing each other around the craggy bark of a Kentucky coffee tree.

Bike bells chiming as a man on a bicycle passes a bunch of kids on scooters.

two squirrels on a tree

All ages from all walks of life.

A man in an electric wheelchair whirring around the park blasting out Steely Dan on loud speakers; it’s a Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress on his second tour.

City workers hunched low, pruning and weeding in the rose garden, talking about their plans for the weekend.

A young couple lying on a blanket, their heads resting on their elbows, almost touching, deep in conversation.

Toddlers in blue and pink onesies with hats with brims so wide you can’t tell if they stumble because of their pudgy little legs, or because they can’t see two feet in from of them.

A dog walker with six dogs, four types of doodles (always the doodles), a husky and some kind of German shepherd cross. How do the leashes never get tangled?

A parade of mostly mothers and strollers marching through the park and gathering in a circle under a big oak tree for a yoga class.

An older gentleman dressed nattily in a blue checked short-sleeved shirt, grey dress shorts and socks, black running shoes and a bowler hat, jogging slowly through the park. How does he manage to look so dapper jogging?

Teenagers splashing each other with water from the fountain, screaming and swearing, oblivious to the disapproving looks of the older woman sitting nearby.

That irritating older woman, always on her phone, looking down instead of up.*

This week’s #HappyAct is to take a stroll in your city park and discover the heart of your city.

*Ed. note: To truly experience the sights, sounds, and smells of your stroll, it’s recommended to stay off your phone. I did use my phone to take photos and notes since I have a poor memory. And for those of you with a historical interest: Many of Canada’s grandest city parks were built in the golden age of park development from 1874-1914. Mont Royal Park in Montreal was built in 1874, Stanley Park in 1888, Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg in 1909, and Gage Park in 1922. As cities developed, there was a recognition that people needed access to nature for their physical and mental health. The City Beautiful Movement rose which promoted beautiful public spaces, including buildings, streetscapes and parks.

dog in park

My trusted companion on my morning strolls.

Moms and strollers in the park
Dog walker with six dogs
Fountain at Gage Park in Hamilton
Posted on in arts, entertainment, health and wellness, humour, mental health, science of happiness

A funny thing happened on the way to my improv class

Group of people from improv class

Special guest post by Jon Begg

Our bus hit a polar bear. Someone was giving the bear CPR and my head was stuck in its jaws and no one was helping me. Seriously.

Fear. Absolute fear. How did I get myself into this situation?

Well, I signed up for it, a Level One improv class at the Tett Centre in Kingston.

I was a longtime fan of Whose Line is it Anyway so when I saw the ad for improv classes pop up on my Facebook feed I thought ‘Why not’?

I sent the payment, put all the dates on my calendar, told my wife I would be busy Tuesday nights, poured myself a tall glass of red wine and thought to myself “What have I done….?’

The class will probably be filled with quick-thinking Queen’s students… and me. I’m almost 62. I forget people’s names, I can’t think of the right word now and then, I never remember where I put my wallet and keys and the list goes on.

Now I’m going to be put in odd situations with people I don’t know, with no prep time, and have to make a 3-4 minute scene flow seamlessly by blurting what comes to mind first! “Don’t think” they tell you, the gold is what comes out first. Oh, and it helps if you get a few laughs along the way. No pressure at all.

It turns out there was no pressure.

I wasn’t the oldest in the class which for some reason made me feel good.

And there was laughter. Every class. We laughed with others and we laughed at ourselves.

Reader’s Digest had a section called Laughter is the Best Medicine. Turns out it’s true. Laughter is a wonderful thing. Studies around the world have shown laughter boosts immunity, lowers stress hormones, decreases pain, relaxes your muscles, and can help prevent heart disease. Those are just the physical benefits. Mentally, laughter eases anxiety, tension and stress, and can improve your mood. It checked a lot of boxes for me.

Improv was a great way for me to challenge myself, but more importantly, a great way to laugh at myself and at others sweating it out on stage!

For two hours a week I gave no thought to divisive politics, inflation, how to survive retirement, or the long list of social issues we hear about on our daily news feeds. I just laughed. I highly recommend it.

I hope that polar bear is doing okay.

Jon Begg

Jon Begg is a communications specialist, husband, father, grandfather, and fisherman who’s been telling jokes and laughing all his life.

Posted on in ageing, family, parenting

Make time for messy exploration and play

Woman standing in a daycare

Do you wish sometimes you never grew up? That you were still a child, with no worries, responsibilities, or never-ending to do lists in your head, just the prospects of a new day of exploratory play and learning?

I found I was mourning the loss of my inner child a bit yesterday when I toured an absolutely amazing facility, the Child Care Centre in Sharbot Lake as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Rural Frontenac Community Services. The Centre was founded by my dear friend Audrey Tarasick who served as the Centre’s director for a decade in the 1990s. As part of the celebrations, the Centre dedicated a bench in the playground to Audrey who passed away last year.

As I toured the Centre, I could feel Audrey’s presence in every kiddie cubbyhole, reading nook and painting cranny. There were tiny wood tables and chairs, a big circle carpet with trees and clouds, and toys everywhere. Audrey loved children and she had the unique ability to see the world through a child’s eyes and let children guide their learning by letting them play, explore and take the lead.

I saw artwork and toys and banners with messages like “Learning is messy business,” “Creativity is messy and we are very messy”, and “Every child is an artist”.

It made me wonder why, as adults, we hate mess and seek out organization and structure, and what impact this has on our creativity, happiness, and ability to learn and play?

I bumped into Marcie Webster who has worked with RFCS for 34 years and who remembered me from the days when I brought my two girls to her play groups. She shared a story about one of her first few days at work. A child had mixed some red paint with yellow paint and Marcie had said to the child, “Try not to mix the colours”. Audrey asked her why she told the child that, and Marcie said so the paints would be intact for the next child. Audrey replied, “But the child was exploring and learning like a scientist. Let them learn.”

Early in my career, I worked as a copywriter for an educational toy company, Discovery Toys. Their motto was “Play is a child’s work” and their belief was children learned through exploration and play. Because I had to write about the toys, we would play with them every day. I literally was paid to be creative with the toys and play. It was a great job.

When it came time to take a photo of Audrey’s family on the bench, instead of sitting normally, one of her great-grandsons hung upside down with his legs flopped over the back of the bench (his family later asked him to “sit properly” for an official photo). I snapped a picture of Walt upside down and thought, “Audrey would have loved that.”

This week’s #HappyAct is to break the chains of adulthood and let your inner child lead this week. Just be messy and explore. You’ll never know what you may learn–or how much fun you’ll have doing it.

Boy hanging upside down on bench

Photos: Main: Marcie Webster, one of the longest-serving employees at the Child Centre in Sharbot Lake in her EarlyON play group room. Above: Walt having fun and exploring upside down on Great Grandma’s bench.

Play area with sign "creativity is messy and we are very creative"
Posted on in community, entertainment, Historical, Hobbies, shopping

Going once, going twice, sold!

Auction sale sign and antique print

If you’re looking for a fun and interesting way to spend a morning, go to an auction.

Yesterday, Dave and I headed out under grey cold rainy skies to an estate auction on Maple Road, just north of Odessa. It was an antique and collectibles auction of a local farmer featuring horse gear and memorabilia, but with lots of interesting household antiques, prints, books, and tools.

The auction company was Snider and Sons, and what made this auction particularly interesting is it was their father who had passed away, so the sons who were the auctioneers had first-hand knowledge and commentary on many of the items.

Some people might balk at bidding on the cherished possessions of a family member who has passed, but I’ve always taken the opposite view, taking comfort in knowing these precious antiques and treasures will be loved and become a part of a new family’s home for generations to come.

There’s always so much to see at an auction, starting with the treasures themselves. There were antique baskets, cowboy and bowler hats, snowshoes, rugs, horse bits, drill bits and wrench sets, stamps, and books under the main tent, and more garden and farm tools on three wagons out in the yard.

I had my eye on a cast iron rabbit, a unique wood carving of an Indigenous chief and eagles, some signs, including a No Fishing sign I wanted for the lake where our geothermal coils are in the water, and some antique oil lamps.

Wood carving

I was bidding on this unique wood carving but it ended up going for more than I was willing to pay

Sometimes there are items that nobody knows what they are; sometimes there are items you haven’t seen in years, like the stoneware bed warmers called “pigs” that sold yesterday for $10.

Items bought at an auction

These stoneware pigs were used as bed warmers in olden days

Then there’s the people. You get “all kinds” at an auction, from serious collectors, to local farmers, and casual bidders like me who just love a good auction and turn up for fun. There was one couple who bid only on tire-shaped ashtrays and cigarette lighters (they had a whole box of them by the end of the auction), a younger woman and older fellow who got into a bidding war whenever antique horse bits were on the auction block, and a guy who wouldn’t bid on anything over $10.

The fun thing about an auction, unless you’re an expert or a collector, is you never know what price things will go for. Some box lots can go as low as $1, but then a pair of wrenches (these ones were rare Comet and Oxo wrenches) went for $75. I was surprised when two small sleeves of stamps went for $370.

There is a noticeable excitement in the air when rare or big ticket items come up for bid. At yesterday’s auction, the biggest items were Black Horse Ale collectible statues that went for $1,500 and a custom display of antique horse rosettes or pins that went for $3,100. The crowd applauded after the bidding ended.

If you’re new to the auction game, there are some things you should know. First, not all auctions are alike. The ones we like best are estate auctions, where you can get a glimpse into the person’s life and the contents are from one home (some auction houses will combine lots).

Always get a bidding number even if you’re not sure you want to buy anything. You don’t want to be unprepared if something comes up you want to bid on.

A good auctioneer will signal what an item is worth and what they hope to get in their opening chant. The first amount they say is what it’s worth, the next amount is closer to what they are hoping to get, then they’ll come down to where people want to start bidding. So they may say, “$100, do I hear $100, $50, do I have $50, $25…” and maybe starting as low as $10, but if the auctioneer started at $100 and dropped it to $50, there’s a good chance the item will go for between $50-$100.

In the end, I only walked away with my no fishing sign, $10 well spent for a morning’s worth of entertainment.

This week’s #HappyAct is to go to an auction, but hurry, before it’s going once, going twice, sold!

Antique sleigh in front of a barn
Auction in yard
Auction main tent
Posted on in mental health, nature, science of happiness

Rainy day people

Girl walking on the beach in the rain

It feels like it’s been raining cats and dogs and elephants this spring. The grass and yellow dandelions in the yard are a foot high, the plants from the garden centre sit shivering in our driveway, and muddy shoes lay strewn across the front porch caked with mud. Everyone I talked to is fed up with the rain.

It begs the question, how does rain affect our happiness and mood?

Rain can make some people sad or depressed. We can’t (or won’t) get outside to do the things we enjoy which puts a damper on our mood. This is true and well-documented for people who are more prone to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in the winter months. Lack of sunlight decreases the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter proven to help regulate anxiety, happiness, and mood.

But you may be surprised to learn rain can have a positive impact on our mental health and happiness and there are some of us who love the rain. They even have a name: pluviophiles. For these people, rain can be rejuvenating, calming, and restorative. Let’s dive into the science.

When it rains, negative ions are released. These are odourless, invisible molecules which are created in moving water. When it rains and water hits a hard surface, the drops break up and pick up a charge. If it is a negative charge, it can generate electrons that can be picked up by molecules in the air, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, forming negative ions. Research on the effects of negative ions indicates they boost mood, relieve stress, and give us more energy.

Then there is the impact on our olfactory senses. The earthy scent after a rain has a name too. It’s called petrichor, from the Greek words petra, meaning “stone”, and ichor, meaning “the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods”. Petrichor includes a chemical called geosmin, which is made by bacteria in soil. Inhaling it can have a calming effect.

I personally love the sound of rain. On a rainy day, I’m quite happy to sit in my screen porch and listen to the steady drumming of the raindrops on our steel roof. Relaxation and meditation videos use the sound of rain and buildings include features such as artificial fountains and indoor waterfalls for their relaxing sounds and calming effects.

There are even benefits to the grey skies that come with rainy days. With less light, the body tends to produce more melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, helping you rest better. 

And yet we tend to be wet blankets when it comes to rain, hiding ourselves indoors until the stormy skies pass.

If you live on the West coast or in Great Britain, you make the best of the rain, dress for the weather and get on with your day.

I once spent six weeks in England and Scotland in November and December. It rained almost every day. That didn’t stop the intrepid Brits. The streets of London were bustling with shoppers, brollies in hand, and the parks were filled with young families with babies in strollers covered in plastic and little ones dressed in bright yellow and red raincoats, splashing in puddles.

Sure, there were days I was tired of the grey skies and panda-sized puddles on the slippery sidewalks, but I remember the wonderful feeling of coming in from the cold, and warming up with a hot cup of tea or enjoying a pint in a cozy pub with some friends.

This week’s #HappyAct is to become a pluviophile and get out for a walk in the rain. Time to go, I see the sun is starting to come out…

Related reading: Swimming in the rain (a poem)

Photo: Clare walking on the beach in the rain in South Carolina