David K. Leff, Essayist, Poet, Lecturer

Voices of the Rain

Forget the calendar and the solstice.  My summer begins with those first ominous afternoon storms of electrically charged charcoal sky suffused with the scent of impending moisture. The drama of lightening and thunder may get most of the attention, but I revel in the sound of rain.

Rain speaks in as many distinct tones as the human voice.  Sometimes it’s a Babel of cacophonous racket, at other times soothing.  I particularly enjoy summer downpours because they offer such a wide range of voices as to create a kind of symphony from the sky.

Every Name Has a Story

Ever been to Seldom Seen Pond in Canaan, Connecticut?  Since you probably haven’t, you know how it got named.  Every name tells a story.  In a place as long and thickly settled as the Constitution State, just about all natural features—hills, lakes, ravines, rock outcrops and watercourses included—have at least one if  not multiple names.  They appear on signs and maps, and we hear them roll off the tongues of our neighbors and colleagues.  Nevertheless, their meanings often remain mysterious.

Many places have fascinating and musical Indian names, often with multiple and uncertain meanings.  Among them are Minnechaug (“huckleberry”) Mountain in Glastonbury, Waubeeka (“crossing place”) Lake in Danbury, and Mashamoquet (“great fishing place”) Brook in Pomfret.  Our devout colonial forebears honored biblical places like Mt. Ararat in East Lyme, Meriden’s Sodom Brook, and Mt. Nebo in Manchester.  They frequently left surnames such as Hubbard, Baldwin, Clark, Burnham and Whitcomb etched on our landscape.  All are meaningful markers of our past, sometimes the only evidence of a bygone culture.

Show Me a Sign

Churches are increasingly using changeable letter signs at roadside to get out the Word.  Apparently, it pays to advertise, even if your message is divine.  In the same bold block lettering commonly used by repair garages, dry cleaners and other commercial enterprises, these houses of worship are competing for the  attention of motorists.

Typically lighthearted, yet with a serious twist, such messages as “God Loves You Whether You Like it or Not,” proclaimed by the Evangelical Free Church of Westfield, Massachusetts, certainly gives passersby something to ruminate about whether they like it or not.  “In Many Tongues, But One Message” read a poignant sign recently displayed at the United Church of Chester, Connecticut.  This simple, somewhat cryptic phrase simultaneously seemed to express a complex world of universality, tolerance and welcome.  It gave me a measure of comfort as I drove past, even though I have no intention of ever stopping in for Sunday worship.