Rain!

I went to sleep last night with the soothing sound of rain falling on the roof. It was the same sound I woke up to last Saturday morning. Two days of rain in one week; the earth is glad. And nice, slow, soaking rain, not the quick cloudbursts that drop moisture quickly and leave the ground dusty an hour later. This morning on the way to work, all the greens seemed greener, the air fresher, the flowers brighter, all because of a few hours of steady rain. It looks like more rain is unlikely in the next few days, which will be nice for holiday weekend activities. But my summer wish is for one nice rain each week, to alleviate the need for much of our watering.

Meanwhile the combination of moisture alternating with days of sunshine has resulted in amazing flowers everywhere. I took Monday off work and visited with my daughter and also gardened. I think I might need a flower intervention soon — I went to the nursery and bought more flowers on Monday. While my yard has great perennials, I needed a few cosmos and zinnias to fill in. And I wanted a couple of rose bushes along my new fence. I am definitely done adding to the garden now — at least I hope so! But if you need to fill in with a few annuals, it isn’t too late to add some to your garden.

Enjoy the flowers this weekend – and remember that it is a gift to live in a country where we are free to plant and harvest and choose which flowers we want to grow, so let’s not take this gift lightly. Much of what I have is because I was born to educated parents in a country with freedom to move about and work. A chance of birth that not all enjoy, so I need to steward this gift.

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