Mount Greylock
Massachusetts
May 2014
It rains on our hike to the summit, but lightly enough that we don’t even put on our jackets. There’s an odd sky.
Which puts me in mind…
Let me take you back to the days before cable television, or whatever we have now, even before Saturday Night Live. On a few quiet Saturday nights, I adjust the rabbit ears, lie in bed watching the movie on the Late Show, and then another movie on the Late, Late Show and sometimes even the movie on the Late, Late, Really Late Show. It might be four or five in the morning before the movies run out and I can get some sleep. My own prehistoric version of Saturday Night Live entertainment.
One Saturday night, I believe it is the Late, Late Show, the movie opens up with a long aerial shot of a winding mountain road. An old style car makes its way around the curves. The lighting is an eerie grey, making it hard to tell if it is morning or evening, stormy or not. The voiceover announcer introduces us to the story line in his low, breathy, mysterious/ominous voice, slight mid-west accent, “There’s an old saying,” the voice says. “…when the sun shines on the rain, the Devil’s wife is smiling.”

Wow, that’s perfect, I’m thinking, one of the best lines I’ve ever heard. It’s 3:30 in the morning and I’ve been watching bad television for the past six hours and now it has all been made worthwhile.
I love this phrase. I have no friggin’ idea what it means, but isn’t it just splendid! “When the sun shines on the rain, the Devil’s wife is smiling.” That’s rich. Maybe these are words to live by.
Someone at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee — don’t ask me why — polled over 10 002 people about this matter. Leaving out percentages, here is what the respondents called the meteorological condition of rain falling while the sun is shining. They named it…
. sun shower
. the wolf giving birth
. the wedding of the monkey
. the wedding of the fox
. the wedding of rats, tigers, jackals, hyenas or bears
. pineapple rain
. liquid sun
Surprisingly, not one of the more than 10 002 respondents said what the guy in the movie said, that the Devil’s wife was smiling. I still think they must be wise words to live by, if only I had the foggiest idea what they mean.
But then, the Devil’s wife…?