Rain, Wonderful Rain

and… a tea party.

Well, after months of no rain… Sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, we were drenched, dumped upon, bombarded like cats-and-dogs even. Glorious liquid sunshine! Okay, so the storm came with straight-line winds as high as 70-mph which caused power outages, uprooted trees and turned our neighbor’s trampoline into an incredible flying object. Who’s complaining? Actually, the farmers may be complaining. The rain came too late to save some crops and the corn is all laying down in the field. I am sure it is harder to harvest like that. We are expecting rain again today. If this keeps up, maybe my lawn will turn green!

Thankfully, electricity was quickly restored to my house. Because on Saturday Ron’s mom, uncle and grandmother were coming to our home for lunch. I needed power in the morning to vacuum the cat hair from the chairs in the living room! I had purposely waited to do that job because if it is done too soon, the cats will just sit on the chairs again. Their visit was a huge treat because Ron’s grandmother and uncle live in Tucson. Ron’s grandma doesn’t usually eat much at lunch. So, rather than make a big meal, I decided to serve tea. We had cucumber tea sandwiches, tea sandwiches made with a bologna spread, a salad made with melon, pineapple and seedless red grapes and for dessert Heidi’s Chocolate Chip Cheeseball. Ron’s grandmother could not have been more pleased. She has hot tea every afternoon and loved the cucumber sandwiches.

I was a bit worried about getting Ron’s grandmother into our home. Our main house is one level. We opted for this instead of a split level specifically because of access issues, but you do have to climb up three stairs to get in. In the end, it was Ron’s uncle who fell down the stairs. I told Ron if our family was going to continue to age, we would have to install a ramp.

and… a baby shower.

Yesterday, I went to my cousin’s baby shower in the cities. I had a fabulous time. All those years of tramping around the US with the Army… I missed bridal showers, baby showers, weddings, births, deaths… So, even if it was a bit of a drive, Marissa and I made a day of it. Did you know that one of my cousins is a talented photographer? After the baby shower, Marissa and I made an obligatory stop at the Mall of America and ate dinner before heading home.

We arrived home last night to no Internet access. I was too tired to figure it out. This morning I unplugged and then plugged back in our Internet box and then restarted the computer. That seemed to do the trick! I will try to catch up on reading my friend’s blogs.