Gift of a Rainy Summer

Kind of a snowflake

Well – as far as I can tell this has probably been the rainiest summer since we started coming to the lake.  That being said, I am not entirely sure since before we moved here full time, if the weekend weather was looking like rain – we could find something else to do elsewhere.

A whole lot of these ...

Makes a field that looks like this

Once you live here though, the rain, and the sun are part of the fabric of every day.  There is no question that living at the lake is absolutely marvelous during good weather.  And by that, I mean sunny, with a light breeze perhaps, and low humidity.  And sometimes we get that – last year for example when there was a drought.  But this year – we are wet, wet, wet.

So what is a major benefit of this wet summer weather.  Well of course to anyone reading from western Canada the obvious benefit is the lack of forest fires.  And if we could figure out a way to give them some of our rain this year we would.  But alas that does not seem possible..

However – vast amounts of rain has made the countryside, and the road side, simply alive with wildflowers.  More than I think I have ever seen, and they are long lasting.  I am populating this post with photos of the various wildflowers that I saw on my drive the other day back from my son’s home to our place.

On a related note, way back when we installed the septic system here, instead of growing grass atop the bed, we left it as sand and sowed a specific wild flower mix made for the purpose (to be sown direct on top of septic bed sand).  The next year we got quite a stunning display of Black Eyed Susans, but after that virtually nothing for several years.  The only thing that seemed to want to grow there was wild roses – which were not desired (far too thorny).  It took me 2 years of pulling, burning and poisoning to get control of those things.  But up until last year – almost nothing else showed – just bare sand with the odd dead stick.  This year however – it has gone crazy !!!   I was very surprised as it seems the seeds had managed to stay dormant, but viable, for several years. 

Oddly, in anticipation of another summer of brown sand and sticks, I had actually put in a few perennials (not many) so that hopefully something would grow and at least change it from brown to green.  So – now there is a bit of a mix that many would find to be total mess.  But a green and colour mess !!

(I also took a gardening course with a friend – which was initially aimed just for a weekly night out, but actually turned out to be useful.) 

I wish now that I had a photo from the brown years – but no.  Just think moonscape.

(A note - when I write this I am formatting the words and photos on the actual blog.  I have noticed that if I look at it on a phone or a small tablet the formatting is sometimes off.  At this point I don't know how to fix that - so if it seems strange and is bothersome  just go to the actual blog link)