Raindrops put a kibosh on my morning agenda so I stayed close to the neighborhood, not straying all the way down to Council Point Park. When I left the house, it was lightly sprinkling but I went anyway. Even though I’ve not yet set a year-end goal, I know there will come a day when I’ll be close to achieving some monumental mile marker and I’ll lament “well I could have gone that time or another time” … so off I went. On the fourth loop around Ford Park, the rain went from a sprinkle to a drizzle so I turned in the direction of home. Actually, it was welcome since it cooled me off a bit as I had been chugging right along and it was a smidge humid and muggy … and buggy. What’s with all the mosquitoes so early in the season? Summer isn’t even here yet. So reluctantly, soon I was homeward bound, all the while scowling at the rain and the lackluster 2.50 miles walked that I saw when I looked down to check my pedometer. When I lifted up my head, what did I see as I strode up the sidewalk, but my Nelly Moser clematis laden with mauve blooms which were just twinkling away on the vine as they climbed up to the log cabin birdfeeder. I’d not been in the backyard since Saturday morning so all the buds must’ve opened at once. Suddenly the gray and gloomy sky and my attitude seemed a whole lot brighter. I guess you could say that mauve-colored twinkles wiped out the wrinkles in my Monday.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
It’s very pretty!
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Thanks Joni – I know I have a bigger picture of it somewhere in this blog – it was huge, and bit the dust. Felt badly, but not replacing anything anymore – I think this weather is going to get worse, not better.
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I feel bad for you that you can’t enjoy your back yard, but then you’re so busy when would you have time! And I agree, if my rose bushes don’t come along, they won’t be getting replaced. Too much money invested to redo.
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Yes, there is no joy back there now and you/I spent a lot of money originally, with the expectation that buying a good product from an established nursery made it worth the money as we would get many years of joy from them. The erratic weather is here to stay, so we might as well just get used to it and as they die, just leave the space bare or put annuals. I don’t even plant annuals anymore nor hanging baskets or porch/patio pots. This incessant rain surely cannot be good for the plants – they’ll get “wet feet” and root rot. We are having a bad storm with hail later this evening – they are calling it a “robust storm” – ugh. It’s not even the heat of Summer.
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Hail??? That is crazy…..just had a sudden burst of rain here, but we may get a thunderstorm later…..very humid today, not enjoyable.
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This weather is horrible – we have a reprieve today and I’m leaving in a few minutes – tomorrow dry, but no rain thankfully as I am in a 5K event in the a.m. then Monday most of the day raining and Monday as well. And we are still so chilly … just in the low 40s and still in a Winter coat!
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Our northern and western suburbs will have a freeze advisory tonight – your lettuce would be in peril!
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I covered the lettuce up with the same burlap I used to cover the strawberry plants all winter, so it should be ok. I’m going to a plant sale tomorrow so I hope it’s not too cold, it’s always the Mothers Day Saturday, but last year it was freezing. I hope you have a nice day for your 5k walk!
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Yikes with this weather Joni – it is cold this morning and I have to leave shortly – scratching my head why I signed up for a 5K this early in May and it is maybe 41 degrees out there! Hope you get some nice plants.
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At least if you were walking maybe you could keep warm? Got 2 Iris plants but we were late for the sale, as I got sidetracked with a garage sale then had to take our purchases home, and stop at Kitchen Design place to pick up a paint sample, so by the time I got to the plant sale it was almost over. It was so cold that I wouldn’t have stayed long anyway. 7 C whatever that is in F?
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There used to be irises all around the perimeter of the backyard- they looked nice when they bloomed but they flopped over all the time and I gave them to my neighbor decades ago – he dug up his black-eyed susans and we exchanged … I hated going underneath them in the Spring – afraid what I’d find under the big leaves – I had two little rakes to look underneath, one to prop up the leaves, another to clean under them. It is 44 degrees, just converted it online (not in my head). We have an ugly day today – raining all day and I am going to hunker down and work in the house … no excuses. I suppose I could try out the rain boots or shoes but it is a very chilly morning – best to stay inside and work – maybe both days next weekend will be better. We have rain again tomorrow – sigh.
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Next weekend is supposed to be better, 70’s, which is good as I plan on going to and posting about a Victorian Tea in a nearby museum, for Victoria Day here. Tomorrow will be an inside catch up day for me.
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Oh that’s right – it is Victoria Day already – it doesn’t seem possible or that Memorial Day is in two weeks either due to the weather. That does sound interesting.
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The Victoria Day weekend is notoriously cold and wet, (but the campers go anyway) and your Memorial Day weekend is always nice and sunny! I checked the long range for Sunday and it says rain but 77, feeling like 86, so that hot and humid stuff I hate. Oh well, I can go another day and take the pictures, and just not go to the tea part.
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I just heard the long-range forecast for this weekend, and they said (if they are to be believed) that Friday is sunny all day and no rain for the entire weekend. But we have a little rain every other day this week and this has to be the fourth week in a row for this rainy pattern. This morning it was drizzling earlier and they said mist and fog now – I just looked out and not foggy, but no joy to go out in this. I’ve got the waterproof gear but it is in the low 40s, so I’m not clamoring to go out and walk in that. But I must have myself together after this weekend, as the weatherman says this front that has been stalled overhead now for weeks bringing rain, gray skies and chilly temps is finally going to move on. I am going to look into going back to that Fair Lane estate because at least it is a paved path … but will ask if there are lots of flowers later in the season and maybe wait, but right now, most of our parks are still flooded so even my old standbys are not a good option, let alone trying a new park. This happened last year too … I bought a state park pass on my driver’s license (I think it was $9.00 or $10,00 added) and I never used it because we had all that rain in Spring and then after 4th of July weekend, I bought the Metroparks pass ($35.00) and there was access to even more parks, but I kept returning to Lake Erie Metropark as it is beautiful there and I took the pics of the water lotuses several times, took a few of their interpretative walks to familiarize myself with the Park and took one of their two-hour cruses so that was nice as well. I have not looked at their list of cruises yet this year. The one I booked last year happened to fall a few weeks or so after that duck boat incident where all the people were killed and I had registered/paid for the trip before that incident. I wrote and asked if I could get my money back and they said “no” … I don’t know how to swim, but I decided to go and check out the boat. Went early one morning before it went out on cruses. It was big, looked sturdy – decided it was okay to go. Then the morning of the cruise, they called for thunderstorms. So I was worried about that – but so often they call for thunderstorms and they don’t happen but it was a sickening hot day and you know storms on a hot day after the weather gets heated up, atmosphere is unstable. So I decided to drive there (32 miles roundtrip) and see how it looked at cruise time. I don’t spend money on myself to be honest except related to walking and my blog and I had booked it as it was a cruise to explore nearby small islands and see eagles – you did not get off the boat. It looked clear at boarding time, so I went but the waves were pretty high and rough, but that was it – it turned out to be a blue, beautiful afternoon. They have some beautiful parks in the Metropark system so the $35.00 is worth it (otherwise you pay $10.00 per day – ridiculous) but many are not near me, and because I don’t know how they are landscaped (for lack of a better word) I don’t want to go and it is a swamp. Although that is what those rain boots are for I guess. I feel a little exasperated. Last Memorial Day I think we finally pulled out of our rainy spell and then we got this intense heat and humidity – ugh. I don’t like the humidity at all.
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Well I just looked at the long range forecast here and it’s chance of rain every day all week, except tomorrow. It seems like every time I check they change it! We’ll hope for the best. It’s only 41 here today too.
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They have changed it through the day here too and now rain on Sunday but they’ve not pinpointed the time of day. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that it doesn’t rain for your event … it’s as bad as planning around ice and snow!
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