The day was dark and grey when I opened the drapes. No sunshine to let in! Barely any daylight, either! But I didn't mind. For it was raining! Not enough to wipe out the drought, but we'll take what we can get!
The plants in the garden were enjoying the rain, including the newly planted ones. The rain will help them to settle in. Dusty miller and two of the chrysanthemums by the mail box:
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| Dusty Miller and Chrysanthemums |
The rest of the new plants were planted out in the bare spot where the gazanias died out:
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| Dusty Miller, Snapdragons, Chrysanthemums and the Lone Geranium |
The pictures of the plants were taken in the afternoon, when there was a short break in the rain, after a morning of on and off showers. Yet, the ground is still quite dry. Not enough rain had fallen to soak into the ground. But there are droplets of rain water on the leaves! And it has continued to rain into the evening and now, night.
It has been a bit chilly, too, and I've had the heater on all day. I managed to get the thermostat to work so that the heater comes back on automatically when the temperature goes down! Earlier, it would go off and then, not come back on until I manually toggled the switch to off and back on a couple of times! It is a gas heater, set into the wall between the living room and the hallway. It is not central heating by any means. The heat simply diffuses through the house. That is my one indulgence. A warm house. I will happily go without air conditioning in the summer, but I keep the heater on in the winter, such as it is. I wear warm clothes, too - currently I am wearing sweat pants and a sweat shirt, socks, and a knitted poncho. But I am seated in front of the heater, as well. I feel cold very easily.
In the evening, made myself a nice, warm drink:
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| Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows |
Brunch was a toasted sandwich made with the last of the roast beef cold cuts, sauted, and a scrambled egg. Not exactly steak and eggs, but it was good. Dinner was rice, with fish curry, green beans, and pumpkin curry; yogurt and treacle for dessert. Grapes and sesame crackers for snacks.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Rain! My garden getting watered without me having to worry about the water bill!
- Doing my grocery shopping yesterday, when it was sunny and warmer.
- A working heater!
- Talking on the phone with friends, neighbors, and family; exchanging emails with friends; video chatting with my daughter.
- Hot cocoa!
How was your Sunday?
Your garden is looking lovely Bless and that hot cocoa seems just the trick. Delicious. X
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules. I hope the new plants will take and fill in the bare spots. If not, I'll have to borrow the idea from that gingerbread shop you showed in one of your pictures and "plant" painted wooden spoons! LOL.
DeleteA gentle rain is really a pleasure. I expect even more so if it is an uncommon experience. I'm glad you got to enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteThe rain was much appreciated. It rained all day and well into the night; the garden got a good watering. Clear skies and bright sunshine this morning, though, and no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week.
DeleteSo glad you got some rain to perk up your garden. We awoke to a foot of snow! Snowed in until our guy turns up to plow the driveway. I think we had forgotten that winter was on the way as it had been relatively mild for weeks.
ReplyDeleteBushlady
Wow, that's a lot of snow! Hope your driveway gets plowed soon! Glad you got to enjoy a mild fall, though. Winter is cold enough and lasts for a long time, doesn't it?
DeleteIt must be lovely to finally have rain after a drought. It's rained all day here and parts of the UK are flooded. If I could I would send some your way.
ReplyDeleteI suffer from feeling the cold too and there is nothing worse than not being able to warm up. It's all to do with tablets I think. You can't beat a hot chocolate though to thaw you from the inside out :) xx
Sorry to hear that parts of the UK are flooded. We deal with that, too, especially in areas of the country that receive more rain than we do. What often happens in So. Cal. is, we have brush fires in the summer when it is so hot and then, when the rains come, we get mud slides, especially in the hillsides, where the fires burnt all the vegetation and there's nothing to hold the soil in place. Never a happy medium, it seems.
DeleteMy daughter seems to feel the cold even more than I do, so it must be our tropical genes! But, hey, any excuse for a hot chocolate, I always say! :D
I love an all-day rain just after planting. In the Spring, I often hold off any planting until there is rain in the forecast. There is nothing better to get your plants off to a healthy start than a rainfall. I love your new plantings.
ReplyDeleteIt is very cold here tonight. The snow is glistening under the street lights and it looks very pretty. I have been enjoying cups of hot coffee and tea all day, but a cup of hot chocolate sounds really yummy right about now.
There's something extra special about a cup of hot chocolate, isn't there?
DeleteI saw your pictures with all the snow! Hope you keep warm and be careful going out in the snow.
I'm so glad you finally for some rain! I love the smell of the clean air after it rains don't you? That hot cocoa sure looks good. I have been drinking lots of hot tea to help warm me up from the inside out.
ReplyDeleteI do hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
The rain was so welcome! They said on the news that some areas received up to an inch of rain! I don't think we got so much in my area, but the ground got a good soaking and the plants got a good drink.
DeleteHot tea is a good, warming drink, too. Not as much of an indulgence as hot cocoa, especially with marshmallows in it! :D
I like the newly-planted bed. I hope some of these plants have established, meanwhile.
ReplyDeleteThe dusty miller plants by the mail box survived. The others died out.
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