It rained a couple of nights in a row, with just a faint misting the third night (last night), which is nice for me, since I got a break from working, nice for the yard since it managed to recuperate from the long heat wave we had, and nice for the flowers.
Although there hasn’t been much color in the yard lately, the rain managed to bring some flowers to life. I generally don’t like sunflowers — well, I like the flowers, I just don’t like huge flowers that tower over and intimidate me. Nor do I like having to deal with the leftover trunk-thick stalks. But the sunflowers were in a package of wildflower seeds my sister had gifted me, and since she’s coming next month, I thought I should make an effort to grow those seeds.
What I ended up with were some cosmos and a bunch of sunflowers. I’d planted them in an area that usually lies fallow in the summer, though this year, I’d also I planted a few food plants and surrounded them with marigolds and lilliput zinnias I’d thinned out of other gardens, again, because of my sister’s visit. (I wanted the place to look as good as possible.) It turned out to be a jungle, but a fun one, especially since buried in all the foliage is a pumpkin the size of a basketball.
Of course, the rain made other things grow, such as the grass, but with heavy due and a ground still moist from the rain, I need to wait a bit to mow. And of course — weeds. Always weeds. I suppose I could go out, brave the mosquitoes, and do some work, but these days off have left me feeling lazy. Oh, well. There’s always tomorrow.
And as I have discovered, it’s often better not to do today what you can put off until tomorrow.
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One
Bertram's Blog 
August 16, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Rain makes me feel lazy.I guess it is because, I hurt when it rains and I would love to just spend the day doing nothing but sleeping, as if I could. However, I don’t have the lovely surprises that you do. I have just the weeds, nothing else. Also one of my 13 trees has bit the last dust. Still I hope we can get together at some point. Have a blessed Sabbath.
August 16, 2026 at 7:06 pm
I’m hoping we can get together, too.
August 17, 2026 at 10:05 pm
Your garden is lush and beautiful. How fun to have a pumpkin in the mix!
August 18, 2026 at 6:57 am
Thank you!