Actually, to say this summer has been a damp one, well, that's not really painting a very accurate picture of what it's been like. Torrential might be a better word. Thunderstorm after thunderstorm. We haven't made much progress on our rain garden simply because every few days it gets filled up with sand that is washed down the drive (leftover from years of sanding the road above us we suspect). Our creeks gush and churn, white and rapid instead of languid and slow the way they were last summer. We've probably put down twenty pounds of grass seed through the summer in an attempt to grass up the area that used to be the driveway but I would guess that only a quarter of that has gotten the chance to root before it's been washed away.
But on the upside, there have been benefits too. The cool days and cooler nights. Knitting and reading away Saturdays when it's too rainy to go outside. The green green everywhere. No burnt summer grass or dry crinkly woods here. It's lush and fresh and beautiful.
And an orchid which has sat, unwatered (literally) for years now. I kept it for the leaves, never thinking that I could get it to bloom again and then one day I walked by to find a new shoot reaching toward the window. I've watched it, each day, as the buds grew and swelled, wondering if it really would bloom until today, when I came down stairs to find one perfect, pink blossom. A Friday greeting to remind me that there is always an upside to the storm.
