Rain !

Days of extremely high temperatures have left me wilting . All my time seems to be spent watering the gardens and livestock, only to begin again. It's too hot to bake or can the fruit and veggies . We don't have air conditioning except in our bedroom... and tempting as this is, I cannot justify spending the summer days there.

Yesterday thunderstorms rolled in bringing with them abundant rain. Today is a very fine day for baking and gazing out the window, and I am loving it ! "For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receive a blessing from God." Hebrews 6 : 7

Tea In The Garden ~ From The Porch

 Today ( Tuesday) is Tea In The Garden  time hosted by Terri * and I am so excited to be able to participate in this. I marked this event on my calendar as soon as she announced it. I had big ideas I'd already begun putting into action when events in my life decided against my plans. I had thought to set a romantic tea table near the new fountain my husband & I bought as a gift to each other in celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary coming up very soon. Oh what plans I had...

 ....but the pounding summer rains and life-demands not anticipated dashed those plans. The gardens are squishy wet and the trees, bushes, and flowers are drooping with the weight of the raindrops. Priorities needed to be honored in right order. Thusly, tea-time diminished but did not disappear.  

 I settled for Tea In The Garden ~ From The Porch. This is our table in a corner of the front porch where my husband and I sit in the mornings drinking our coffee and watching the birds at the feeders. We have our bird books here, the binoculars, a notebook to record the birds we see, writing paper & pen for me, gardening magazines to read, space to eat meals together, a place we love to rest and reflect on God's bounty. Perfect for tea don't you think ?

 I chose to make a simple dinner to accompany tea. Freshly gathered from my hens , these eggs will be tasty scrambled with chives from my herb garden.

 Asiago cheese bagels with cream cheese & chives ( I love chives ) with the scrambled eggs and grapes...yum.

 The binoculars are always on the table because you never know when the antics of the squirrels or a new bird at the feeder will need closer examination. My home-sewn black toile tea-cozy keeps the tea in the pot hot, and the issue of Tea Time magazine I picked up at the post office today sits nearby ,just waiting to be read. Can you believe it ? Here I set a blue & white tea table and this issue is all about blue & white teacups & settings , I can't wait to read the magazine !

 But first, there is dessert. Ah, dessert !

Tea in the garden from the porch !

 

I hope you join Terri today to enjoy Tea In The Garden* !

 

 

Cozy Rain, Time For Tea

The weather was rainy, very rainy, today - and I just felt like sipping my tea from a cheerful pink butterfly cup and saucer, and sitting back on the sofa to view the pond from a warm and cozy spot.I did not feel at all like venturing outside to do all the necessary things around here, like feeding the sheep , chickens ,dogs, and even more daunting responsibilities like cleaning their pens. Do you have any idea of how back-breaking and yucky it is to clean chicken and sheep pens after this much rain? Slogging in the mud and poo is a more apt description of such activities. I made a pot of Red Rose tea and sat it on the coffee ( tea ? ) table on top of a big stack of magazines I have not had a chance to read yet. What a perfect day for sipping tea and reading magazines. Miss Marple sat on top of the sofa so as to be near me and see what was going on in her domain outside. ( not to be confused with her domain INSIDE )

Lots of informative, inspiring, and interesting reading !

The pink butterfly pattern of this china makes me happy. It is one of a set of 6 cups and saucers by Yeti, Classic Coffee & Tea , made in China

Miss Marple is not impressed, it is NOT catnip tea, but I very much like the gold butterfly handle and design of this teacup and saucer. The tea is tasty too.

Time to get busy, stack the magazines, take one last sip of tea and get going. Outside to feed the animals and make a list of things to be done before shearing the sheep and lambing begin. Gotta get the chicken pens cleaned too... Miss Marple doesn't even give me an excuse to linger over tea. She abandons her spot on the top of the sofa to check out the bird feeding stations from her other indoor perches.

"The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember , the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency. " - Susan A. Toth, 'England For All Seasons ' Please check out cozy tea times and beautiful teacups these ladies have to show you ~be sure to have a good hot cup of tea and something to nibble on as you enjoy all they have to share.

• Martha *
• Terri *
• Lady Katherine *
• Wanda Lee *
• Pam *
• Sandi *

I Am A Rainy Day Gal

I love rainy days. I am very much a rainy day gal. "Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby." Langston Hughes

This is a good thing because God has placed me in a state well known for rainy days.I love to fall asleep to the sound of rain outside our bedroom window.

These pictures are just a few of the reasons I love the rain. Green lush lawns,

abundant green foliage,

layers upon layers of green in our gardens.

If I want to decorate with moss I can just go out into our woods and gather all the moss I desire.

I can pick ferns for flower arrangements and grow them everywhere around here.

Hostas thrive, as do our Bleeding Heart plants, Lady's Mantle,Ajuga-

just look at some of these Hostas my husband cultivates. They bloom profusely in the summer and fall, but with foliage like this flowers are just the icing on the cake.

The Hostas peek out from under rhododendrons and Japanese Maples. Tiny miniature Hostas, large blue Hostas, bright white and green Hostas.

Rainy days , good thing I love them because we are having record rainfall and low temperatures for this time of year. Of course, the slugs love the rainy days too, but this is a bonus for the ducks for it provides slugs to eat and weather they thrive in! "Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger." St. Basil

"If you never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho, you live in Washington." Jeff Foxworthy

"For He draws up the drops of water,they distill rain from the mist, which the clouds pour down, they drip upon man abundantly. Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thundering of His pavilion?" Job 36:27-29

Rain!

It has been raining off and on for two days now and this makes me so happy! Rainy days invigorate me, energize me , and inspire creativity! I also love to fall asleep and awake to the sound of rainfall outside my window.

"He covers the sky with clouds, He supplies the earth with rain and maketh the grass grow in the hills." Psalm 147:8 "

I Love A Rainy Sunday !

~I love rainy days, especially rainy days we are able to stay home. Sunday was just such a day. The type of day I long for so many other days of the year. It was not too cold, the rain was constant, I had a good book on CD to listen to while I plyed my yarn. I put a pork roast with vegetables in the oven , and with the rain beating on the sky lights and the view of the rain falling on our yard and pond from my comfy spot in the living room..I was so happy ! I think this red legged frog at the edge of our pond was happy too !~Rain beckons me, calls to me. I love to sleep with my bedroom window open on rainy nights. After plying yarn for awhile, I decided to venture out in the rain. Everything is so fresh ! Here the hostas by the front entrance sidewalk seem instantly refreshed. The Lady's Mantle and sedums grow quickly after summer rains.

~"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby." Langston Hughes April Rain Song 

The downspouts gurgle and make little streams.

The little birdbath set amidst the ferns and rhododendron is filled with the rain water.

Thorin and Bombadil do not share my love of rain. Thorin peers out at me from his perch in the goat house. They go to great lengths to keep their feet and faces dry. They will jump from board to board to rock, sometimes with difficulty to avoid getting themselves wet. You would think they melt in rain the way the behave. ~The ducks mill around. So many choices for water loving ducks on a rainy day. Puddles, streams, the pond ? Or just hanging out on the water soaked lawn. The slugs are out in full force today so the ducks can graze on gourmet ( to ducks that is ) food without much effort.As much as I love the rain, I'll pass on a little boat ride around the pond.
~Rainy days fill me with energy ! I can accomplish so much while it rains. When there have been too many rainless days I get depressed. I also pine away for rain when I am visiting other places and states that do not get much rain. To me, a rainy day is to be cherished, like a vacation of sorts. I guess I am weird that way. ~One of my favorite passages in the Bible is where God answers Job out of the whirlwind and addresses the audacity of man to question his creator. Here God speaks of the rain and weather. "Who has cleft a channel for the flood, or a way for the thunderbolt; to bring rain on a land without people, on a desert without a man in it,to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the seeds of grass to sprout ?Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew ?..Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of water may cover you ? Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you 'Here we are?' ...Who can count the clouds by wisdom, or tip the water jars of the heavens, when the dust hardens into a mass as the clods stick together? " Job 38; 25 -38 ~~~

~And there is one more reason I love a rainy day , an unknown author says it perfectly ! "God made rainy days so gardeners can get the housework done ."~

Spot On Salad

Lettuce : " A kitchen herb cultivated and used in salad. " Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary

Look at the beautiful lettuces my Hubby has grown ! We have fresh and yummy salad any time we want, and we do want salad. Hubby has grown several types of lettuce, and mustard greens for the salad, and pea pods for the salad. Just wish he could grow all the cheese I put on the salad....but oh well, we buy it. Remember , I now have a new favorite cheese for my salads, and I believe in using it generously on my salad !
Aren't these lettuces beautiful ? Hubby keeps such nice , even rows in his garden. Unlike my very disorderly clumps and climbings in the herb garden. See the beans just beginning to climb the twine Hubby very neatly put up for them ? He likes fresh beans cooked in butter...I and a certain granddaughter love green beans raw, right off the vine. Sometimes poor Hubby suffers a dearth of freshly cooked green beans when said Granddaughter visits and the two of us graze in the garden.

Hip hip hooray ! It is raining outside and it rained last night and today, so I did not have to drag hoses all over the property to water the flowers and gardens. I love the rain, and this rain did not bring cold weather, so I spent an hour or two on the porch, spinning my wool into yarn while watching the birds and the rain ,enjoying the smell of rain . I love the smell of rain and usually July is hot and parched, but not today !

Back to salads, I harvest the lettuces, rinse them well, give them a few spins in the salad spinner, then I rip the leaves by hand into the big salad bowl . I often add flowers from my herbs to the salad..borage, violets, geranium, chive flowers...and chives too. Then I might add tomatoes, cucumbers, snapped peas..and CHEESE ! Lots of cheese. Salad dressing is optional . Top with more blossoms and sliced hard boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, almonds, raisins, CHEESE and more CHEESE ! Voila..you have a meal. Maybe some bread or biscuits on the side. Yum !

" For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. " Matthew 5:25