when it rains, it pours…

The last few weeks have been higgledy-piggledy, topsy-turvy, willy-nilly, and all over the place. 

The weather has been sublime - sunny, cool, breezy, absolutely perfect. And that’s from a gal who doesn’t like to see a day over 70 degrees. 

The strawberries are delicious, 

the flowers are blooming,

and Sunday evening drives found us discovering some striking farm scenes.

We celebrated my son’s wonderful college graduation - yay, with honors!

And I planted a little tea “garden” by the back door in an old urn…lavender, chamomile, and mint: black currant and berries & cream.

Heavy rains have kept the garden patch so wet I couldn’t till until this past weekend - I’m running behind, but hoping to get everything planted this week. 

So this all sounds good; right?  All I have to say is bad luck better not come in 3’s!  Settle in friends, this is a chatty post.

#1 - a couple of weeks ago my son came rushing downstairs and said; “I think a pipe burst!”

I’d like to be able to tell you cooler heads prevailed - but nope. I thought I’d find a leaking pipe under the upstairs bathroom sink. But oh no - I came into the foyer and found water POURING from the ceiling light fixture:

Trust me, the photo doesn’t capture the reality of it. I barked out instructions to grab towels and trash cans while I ran to turn off the electricity and the water line.  The mess was cleaned up, the electrical circuit to that area is off, and I’ve been letting things dry out before calling an electrician to check the wiring. A plumber solved the problem easily - evidently, there was an out of sight  leaking pipe under the sink. He said when water goes under a floor it flows to the lowest spot which would’ve been that ceiling fixture below. I’m just incredibly grateful he didn’t have to tear up the bathroom floor. I’m saving for a new bathroom. This one is hideous - pink fixtures anyone?? But I would’ve been very upset for someone to tell me they had to put in a new floor in a ghastly bathroom. 

#2 - storms came rolling through Saturday. That’s not unusual this time of year, so the prep work was done. However, the storm came in fast and furious. It went from ominous skies,

to a thunderstorm with 60 mile-an-hour winds blowing horizontally, and then the power went out  

After the rain had stopped, I found a large tree limb had fallen in the road. I ran out and put orange cones on each side of it so drivers would know ahead of time, and then I came back inside and started making calls. There were power lines and trees down all over town - no one could come right away. And after all, it was a Saturday - I get it. 

Then out of the blue I hear a chainsaw - and bless his heart it was our 84-year old neighbor from down the road! He’s cutting limbs and I’m moving debris as cars are turning around to avoid the mess. And yes I’m grumbling inside my mind - if only a few more souls would stop to lend a hand this would be done quickly…grrr. 

Then a truck stopped, and then another, and soon the 4 of us had it cleared and the road opened - yay! Not long afterward a township trustee came by to shift a limb that was too big to cut and said they’d be back in a few days to clear it up and cut everything into firewood. Happy dance! So grateful to those who took the time to help out - truly, old-fashioned community spirit.  

The generator was started and we picked up pizza for dinner. In about 20 hours the power came back on.  

And so it goes - I need to remember that limb could have fallen the other direction and taken out my “hideodious” bathroom - as well as a few other rooms.  As Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day.” After all, hummingbirds are visiting, we just saw a stunning blue moon, and tonight I glimpsed the first firefly of the season. Absolutely magical.

Hmmm, best for me to remember:

(Courtesy of southernliving.com)