In the book How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, author Jenny Odell suggests a thought exercise disguised as an art project, which coincidentally, is particularly relevant to the drought that much of the country is in right now, including Minnesota. She suggests putting a small jar outside where you live in order to collect a bit of rainwater next time it rains. Then use that rain water with watercolor paints, cheap from the drugstore, to paint a picture and hang it somewhere you can see it. Or even just sit the filled jar on a windowsill. Odell explains that the reason for this recommendation—apart from the fact that it just may be fun—is to call one's attention to the fact that the rain that falls in our backyards comes from water sources far away from where we live. Water for rain can travel for many miles in "atmospheric rivers." The atmospheric river known as "The Pineapple Express," for example, carries water from the tropics to Western California. I had no idea. Around here, we've had very little rain for the last three months, but a half inch may fall in the next 24 hours. I'm going to put out a little jar and paint a picture from what comes.

(Odell's book, by the way, is about a broader topic than where our rain comes from, and I recommend it. She challenges readers to consider how social media and other media channels can so thoroughly capture our attention, thereby preventing us from directing our attention to those matters to which we want and need to give our attention. The above project is fun and thought-provoking, but the core of the book is here.)