The weather has been SO nice. Rain has fallen for the past couple of weeks, so much so, that we’ve had small lakes, many days, at the back of our yard. And, with the rainfall, the crepe myrtle tree has dropped so many of its tiny white flowers that it looks like it’s been snowing.
Last Tuesday morning, it didn’t just rain. It poured. And poured and poured. David stood at the open garage door for quite some time, waiting for a break so he could easily get going to work. Then, as suddenly as it began, the rain let up, and the day was beautiful. Crisp and clear, the clouds drifted away, and I spent quite some time picking up all the small limbs that had been pounded down onto the lawn, after they’d been broken off in months past and been left suspended up in the high branches.
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- The tiny flowers made little islands in the sea of rainfall.
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- Tuesday’s GIANT, first-thing-in-the-morning rainfall made the largest backyard lake so far.
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- And a significant number of old, leafless limbs landed in the yard.
Thursday, for the first time in several days, I’ve been able to walk around in the back part of our yard, which is all dirt. For several days, it’s been much too wet to walk around back there. (There’s no grass growing there because of that big crepe myrtle tree on one side of the yard and the very old, large pecan tree on the other side, which create much too much shade for grass to thrive.)
But it’s quite clear, now, that the good times are over. Summer’s come crashing in. The first week of June, the temperatures ran from 77 to 85. Then, the 90’s happened. The 100’s can’t be all that far away, either. And it will most likely be that way until, oh, October.
So, Tuesday it rained, hard. Thursday, I had some indoor things to do, and didn’t go outside in the back until late in the afternoon. And, look, my plants were all droopy, and, I’m sure, wondering where the nice lady with the garden hose has gone.
EEK! Back to the normal plant care of watering all the patio plants and the front porch plants, every day, to try to keep them alive.
I’ve been trimming lots of thyme plants, to clean and dry the leaves for my sister.
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- I have this great little herb device that makes stripping the leaves from stems very quick and easy. I poke the stem end into the appropriate-sized hole and pull it through. The leaves fall nicely into the bowl.
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- After I had cut a generous amount of English thyme to take in to wash, I noticed that I had a hitchhiker. I did not include him in the thyme that I was sending off to the Northwest.
But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong.
Matthew 5:44-45 (Contemporary English Version)
I’m trying to land in the “good” and “right” categories.