friday 5 at the farm: rainy day photos

What a long, luscious drink we’ve enjoyed in Oklahoma this week. Several inches of soft rain day after day, a drought buster they’re telling us. Cool temps, too, which is such a welcome relief even if you love summer like I do. I have spent lots of hours just walking around the farm, letting my bare feet squish in the mud (watching for copperheads and frogs of course), smelling the ozone freshness, letting the dripping wet crepe myrtles baptize me as I walk through them. Every little aspect of beauty is turned up a notch, and I love it so much I could cry. So for Friday 5 at the Farm this week, how ’bout just some quiet rainy photos.

The sweet potato vine here is threatening to choke out Instagtah,
but his jazz music will eventually set him free.
It always does.

I am thrilled with how the Great Vine-Relocation Experiment of 2014 is turning out.
About half of them died, as expected, but what remains is so robust.
Isn’t that how life goes?
And I love how the pumpkins and watermelons look on this old ladder,
all drapey and rustic.
Also, it encourages limbo games in the garden.
I just don’t have enough limbo in my life. How about you?

Oh the bees. The bees. The bees. I love them so much.
Wednesday night my Dad and I built some cool boxes and frames
for the ever-expanding colonies,
and today I am painting those boxes with beloved song lyrics.
In a week or so I’ll have a more complete update for you,
once Maribeth and I do a good inspection.
But overall they are doing great. I am so happy and thankful.
Honey harvest soon, friends.
On warm days you can smell it almost from the garden gate.

This is probably where I spent the most time these past few days.
The pond is rising steadily, and my eyes cannot get enough of the beautiful sight.
So often this area of the farm is low and muddy, desolate feeling.
But it also holds so many happy memories. For example…
When Jocelyn, my firstborn, was about twelve,
we had a fantastic rainstorm that caused the pond to rise past the banks.
Fish of every variety were actually being pressed through the sandy berm there
and emerging in the west field on the other side of the pond. Onto the flat ground.
She found them while playing and carried them in buckets back to the pond, for hours.
Eventually we all helped her, and she was so happy. We all were.
She laughed and laughed, catching those slippery fish and returning them to the water.
Over and over and over,  smiling and laughing.
She was so little herself, not yet a fish out of water.
That was an unbelievable seven years ago.

Last but not least, a llama hoof print in the mud, filled to the brim with cold rain water.
It is decidedly heart shaped, which is the obvious choice for such a loving creature.

The sun is scheduled to return today, but probably not much heat. So I expect everything to yawn and stretch and be on its best behavior for a few days, plants and animals both. These days are so charmed. Life is so beautiful, so mysterious and surprising even with the rain.

Happy Friday, friends! Thank you so much for stopping in here again.

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
xoxoxo