Friday 17 July 2009

Black Friday







Today the sky is more or less black. It began at tea time yesterday when big billowing clouds blew in. It has been raining since then, almost non-stop and very heavily. At the last emptying of our rain gauge we have had three inches in less than twenty four hours. It is still raining, our front garden is now a lake rather than a flower garden, the field opposite now has a large lake in it, the water is coming through the roof of our utility room - need I go on? Looking at the weather map this lunchtime on the television Ireland is sunny - so TFE and BT - enjoy the sun-shine. I can't blame you for sending us this rain, it seems to have come up from the South
On a brighter note I took these two flower photographs yesterday. It is interesting that in the Spring the predominant flower colour seems to be yellow round here - primroses, daffodils, gorse, broom. tulips etc. Then in the early summer we tend to go multi-coloured - forget me nots, campion, cow parsley, buttercups (blue, pink, white and yellow respectively). Now, as we near August, we seem to have gone into muted pinks, purples and mauves.
The pretty pink flower above is another variety of Epilobium = this time Great Willowherb and the other photograph is a close up of the much-maligned thistle - so pretty if you ignore its nasty prickles. Needless to say, today, every flower is totally waterlogged and spoilt - as are the strawberries. The farmer picked the raspberries last night before the rain began and they have already been frozen - they freeze well. Ever since Nigella referred to thawed-out strawberries as resembling slugs on one of her TV cookery programmes, I have been quite unable to face freezing them!
So, I am off now to visit a house-bound elderly friend, taking her a jar of strawberry jam (now there's a good use for them, but there is a limit to how much I can make, or eat). See you tomorrow. And TFE and BT - if you are suffering withdrawal symptoms now that the rain has left you alone, feel free to come over here for a paddle.
PS. The other photo is of my first dahlia - isn't he magnificent? (Must call him "he" as I think his name is Tom something.

32 comments:

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Is it ridiculous that I feel a touch of envy for your rain? I haven't had a totally, black-sky rain in a while, and would actually love it. Although seeing my flower garden drowned wouldn't be quite what I have in mind.

Beautiful dahlias!! I have too much shade under all these old trees to grow them with any success, but oh I do love them.

Wishing you a lovely, dry weekend!

Heather said...

I shall try to stop moaning about our rain here in the south west - at least we are not waterlogged, though I did have to move two pots with thyme in them to a drier spot yesterday. Your dahlia is indeed lovely - or should I say handsome! What a good excuse to binge on fresh strawberries when you can't freeze them successfully! I always associate the colours yellow, purple and fresh green with spring and practically all colours with summer. It's raining again here but the forecast says it should be drier for the weekend.

steven said...

hellow eaver, the skies here have been mostly blue with little tiny puffy clouds appearing and disappearing. that's been going on for almost three days now so you know and i know that it has to come to an end sooner or later. hopefully not quite as moist an end as you are experiencing. strawberry jame - homemade - i could eat that 'till i was sick. i have never made jam though and that's something i must learn from my mum who is my tireless source of jams, preserves, salsas, whatever's in season and good!! have a peaceful day. steven

Grizz………… said...

You may need to ask the farmer how good he is at building arks…

Dominant flower colors does seems to adhere to phases. Here our springs cycle white, yellow, pink, purple as summer comes on, them some reds and lots of pinks, more white—Queen Anne's Lace—my favorite purple Ironweed, plus great strong yellows—goldenrod—and the wonderful fall asters. Lots of other colors mixed in each season, of course.

Now, quick—look out the window…are those cows heading your way coming two-by-two?

Pondside said...

No dahlias here, yet........still a couple of weeks to go, I'd say. Blue sky is the order of the day over here - perfect summer day!

Midlife Roadtripper said...

The dalia is beautiful. I'm jealous of the rain. We are in a drought and my garden is definitely beginning to fade quickly. Our water bill outrageous and seems such a waste of a precious commodity to water endlessly when our lakes are down. So my dalia are burning up, along with everything else. Twenty percent chance of rain this weekend. We hope.

Enjoyed the post.

Tess Kincaid said...

Grey skies in central Ohio. And I wish it would rain, we need it!! Send some of those lovely black clouds west!

Beautiful bloom shots.

Unknown said...

Hello Weaver,

You are not alone. It was torrential this a.m. and has hardly stopped all day! Never mind about the cows coming two by two. It's when they float by that you need to worry!!

My father grew magnificent dahlias. His garden was always a sight to see.

Titus said...

Oh yes, that is a boy Dahlia for sure - congratulations. And please stop sending your weather up to us!

Elizabeth said...

The rain sounds sort of thrilling in a Noah's ark sort of way.
Very sticky here.
Once in Marrakesh we had a sudden deluge and the courtyard was 6' deep in runoff from the alley......
Super dahlias

Hildred said...

Oh, send a little rain this way, - in this semi-desert land the summers go on endlessly without a really decent rain. We are lucky to have an underground lake in the valley, and so agriculture is viable, but one is always careful in a domestic situation and a good rain is always welcome, - not the sudden storm, just a warm two day affair. The ground would just soak it all up!!!

Totalfeckineejit said...

As Vic Reeves might croon, Weaver,'Welcome to my world, won't you splash on in,welcome to my world made with lots of rain'
Incredibly enough and fair's fair against all odds it very nearly almost quite didn't rain on St swithy's day.Not enough for him to notice and since then,as you hane noticed, it's not bad, not bad at all. 'Oh, happy days are here again the sky is(almost)full of sun again,happy days are here again'
Commiserations on your black clouds,like all things, they will pass and cogratulations and jubilations on your magnificent dahlia :)

Totalfeckineejit said...

Tht should of course be JIM Reeeves...Doh! feckin EEjit is as Feckin EEjit does...

Cloudia said...

Lucky house-bound neighbor to have your company in "person."

Wonderful flower shots, Weaver.

aloha, friend

Comfort Spiral

Cat said...

The flowers look beautiful! We thought we were getting rain about an hour ago and just a fast shower and tornado warning. Long gone and I've heard it headed north. We need your rain.

Gigi Ann said...

Lovely flowers and sorry to hear you are getting so much rain. We had a few wet days last week, about 3 inches in two days, not quite as much as you all over there.

I too, think thistles are lovely and about 15 years ago we had a lot along our lane, therefore, I put on some leather gloves and picked about a dozen and made a lovely bouquet with them.

Amy said...

Gorgeous flowers, are the first two dahlias? Lovely!

Penny said...

Sorry about your rain, we have been loving ours,but then it is winter.I have been reading, just not had time to comment but love what you have been doing.

SG said...

Lovely pictures... as for rain I have mixed emotions.. Living in a super hot tropical place, I do enjoy the first showers after a long scorching summer, but I'm not a rainlover.. and continuous days of black clouds do make me gloomy!

Jinksy said...

I hope a sunny Saturday or Sunday dispels the black clouds... :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

It's been raining a lot here too, the river was very high yesterday when I was at the Clean up.

Your dahlia is beautiful and I always like the great willowherb...

mrsnesbitt said...

Boy did it rain yesterday! We had floods along the coast road! had to take neighbour to Newcastle airport but hubby kindly said he's take her! Bless!
Will have to meet up sometime.

Dave King said...

Black it was here, too; black and wet, but nothing black about your post. You rustled up a dose of sunshine for us, good and proper, like.

Dr.John said...

A little rain is a good thing but too much is a small lake. Love your flowers. When we visited England the flowers were one of the things we loved. The other was old monasteries like the one in your logo.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Looks as though the world is divided into those with rain and those without - it is very strange when such heavy rain has fallen for twenty four hours to read blogs from people who are longing for rain.
Today the rain has gone and the sun is shining and really - it is difficult to imagine the rain we had yesterday.
Our heifers broke out at the height of the rain. I happened to look out of the back bedroom window and see the farmer struggling alone to get them back in - so donned mac and wellies and went - with a stick - to help. Farmer skidded on the wet grass and went flying, but luckily didn't hurt himself.
Love the various references to our animals lining up two by two and the farmer building an ark - it really did feel like that folks!
Also loved TFE's mix up of Vic and Jim Reeves - that brought a smile to my face this morning.
I have been out to coffee and scraped the car along a wall - the farmer is very sanguine about it - I feel terrible and never want to drive again.
Thanks to all for your comments.

Michael said...

Wonderful plants and flowers brightening your day Weaver. Yesterday was thoroughly miserable in mid Cheshire too.
I adore dahlias in all their variety. My dad was a traditional gardener....dahlias, sweet peas chrysants and carnations...and it stuck with me too.
Can one ever have to much home made strawberry jam?....grinning.

Leilani Schuck Weatherington said...

Thank you for the dahlia picture. My grandpa used to grow the most beautiful dahlias, it brings back many lovely memories.

Mistlethrush said...

Lovely dahlia and wild flowers.

We've not been too bad for rain this side of the Pennines - makes a change!

Hope you dry out soon and I bet the relative loved the strawberry jam!
Take Care

Rob said...

Hi Weaver, I like the Dahlia too. I have a couple that look similar. Seems like the farmer and I had the same idea about picking the raspberries before the rains came. Bob.

Reader Wil said...

We also had so much rain this morning that I skipped church. There were many more like me, who didn't go. Your flowers are so pretty! Lovely pictures!

Arija said...

I can only wish for that kind of rain. We need 4" for starters and if it then continues we have a chance of runoff into our dams. We have had some quite good winter rains but the dams are unfortunately well under a quarte full.
I envy you your Dahlias, we lost our whole collection last summer.

BT said...

We have that exact dahlia, it's gorgeous! I don't know it's name though. Today, you'll be pleased to hear, it has bucketed it down on and off. Real storms with thunder and lightening. So much for the sunshine!! Lovely post. Super thistle photo.