Daily Practice
Journal
I got home yesterday, unpacked the car, and the storm hit! Dark clouds, thunder, lightning, and rain -- sweet, blessed rain! Once I reached Raleigh, I ran into the stuff -- it stopped traffic for a while -- but oh how joyful I was to know the garden, the trees, the animals, were finally getting a bit of water! The rain and my views from the road inspired this memory painting.
The month-long drought at the house, though, despite watering, has hit some trees hard. I imagine that the accumulation of several years of drought have stressed the trees sufficiently that this last bout was the perverbial 'straw' that broke the camel. Sycamore leaves, yellowing months early, are now on the ground, and the trees stand almost bare .... it looks like they're celebrating and early fall ... but I know how susceptible they are to any insect or disease that might come along.
And I know that these are not the only plants under stress. Shrubs, annuals, perennials are also hard hit. Talking with other gardeners I find that they've lost specimen trees of all kinds, prized shrubs, perennials they've had for a long time. Sad.
Temps are supposed to be in the high, high 90s this week --- I'm trying to look at this as though it's a free visit to a sauna .....LOL
I've much to catch up on today -- I already miss the grands -- but oh, it's good to be HOME!
Lin Frye
North Carolina
Hooray for the rain! What a beautiful light you captured coming through those storm clouds.
ReplyDeleteWOW, Lin...I can almost smell the rain. Sorry your area has been so parched, I know how hard that is on trees and gardens.
ReplyDeleteThank you both so much -- we're going to the high 90s this week -- and predictions are that this is only the beginning of the hottest summer on record .. yikes!
ReplyDeleteOh, ugh! Hot here too...but I'm glad you finally got some badly needed rain, sauna or not!
ReplyDelete