A Rainy Day Book for Grownups
It's raining today in Millbrook, New York. When I lived and worked in the Big City, I enjoyed rainy days because they gave you the feeling of, "Screw it—what else am I gonna do today? Might as well work. At least it's dry."
But when you live in the country, and you work at home, you've pretty much got three choices for places to go when it rains: the diner, the library and church. On dry days, I'll often hit all three during my daily walk, but when it's raining...well, I'm stuck inside.
Which leads me to the subject of this entry: Richard Scarry's Rainy Day Book. I loved it as a kid, and it's tough to believe that it's been around 30 years. I must have had one of the originals.
The rainy day savior by Richard Scarry
The Rainy Day Book I remember was chock-full of fun activities for a kid stuck in the house—especially a house in the country, like my grandparents' estate, which was in the sticks. Here's just a taste of the jolly activities offered in the book:
- Thank-you notes
- Greeting cards
- Finger puppets
- Color-mixing
- Connect-the-dots
- Valentine's cards
- Easy recipes (like "Mustard on Crackers!" Yum!)
- Making a model town
I'd love to see somebody come out with a Rainy Day Book for Grownups. As a writer I am infinitely imaginative when it comes to contriving ways of avoiding writing, but having an activity book would help.
Here is a sampling of the activities my "adult" Rainy Day Book would have:
- A Letter to the Editor "kit"—complain about local issues in five easy steps!
- Angelina Jolie & Johnny Depp cut-out finger-puppets (imagine the possibilities)
- Design your own Avatar!
- How to organize your closet
- Balance your checkbook
- Rate nude scenes from movies
- Prank phone call scripts
- Cocktail recipes (it's past noon someplace in the world!)
- An "Am I Depressed?" Questionnaire
- Stupid computer tricks
- And much more!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work.