It's April here in Australia just like it is in America, but being on the opposite side of the globe means we're fast approaching winter. You can't really tell it's Autumn here because the leaves on the trees don't change colour, and so far there hasn't been too many crunching leaves to rake up. Although, I have noticed on our early morning walks that a lot of the gum nut trees are losing their honky nuts (I didn't make that name up; the Aussies really do call them honky nuts). Apparently, we've hit the rainy season, and it couldn't have come sooner because everything was bone dry.
Jamie has a new job now, for which we are so thankful, but just a few weeks ago we had our first real rain storm, and I was left at home alone while the man of the house was on his evening shift. It wasn't really a bad storm, but I don't really do well with thunder and lightning. I've discovered though that if I'm with people, especially little kids, it's not so hard to be brave; there's always someone more terrified than yourself. Even better is the fact that, Felix, our crazy dog, goes ballistic during thunder storms. Sally, the beagle, seems pretty nonchalant about it all, but hey, Felix is running around going bonkers so Sally may as well join him as she usually does.
It took a good ten minutes to chase the dogs down and hide them in the garage. So here I am, holding myself together a little better than our maniac dog, running around the yard packing up lawn chairs, tying down the porch screens, and finally able to grab two smelly wet dogs when the power in the house went out. It wasn't such a huge problem since the sun hadn't gone down completely, but trying to set all the clocks back to military time was a bit frustrating. I've come to appreciate the microwave in the kitchen since it's the only clock in the house I can actually read and comprehend in less than two minutes.
It all worked out beautifully though because just as I was letting the dogs out it was so cool and breezy outside that I put on a raincoat and finished weeding the flower gardens and rock wall in our back yard. Who knew that pulling weeds was a million times easier when the ground is saturated?! Even better was that just about the time I couldn't tell if it was sweat or rain drops dripping off my forehead, I turned around and a gorgeous double rainbow wrapped across the sky in almost a complete arch. It was breathtaking and I remembered just why thunderstorms are so important.
Three weeks and a couple of rain showers later, I have a cute little vegetable garden. I didn't get to grow everything I wanted since it's not all in season, but I have enough to keep me busy. Tonight for dinner we had our first salad with our own home grown lettuce. I'm so proud.
I'm often reminded lately of the song "Here Comes the Sun", because it's just so pretty after a small rain shower.
