Rain Magic

All day yesterday it was overcast, promising rain. It didn't happen, and not only was it still crispy dry for weeks with the whiff of smoke from the Green Swamp burning, the sun didn't shine. It made us all crabby and we scanned the sky for the rain clouds. "Looks like rain", we said mindlessly again and again.

And then, last night it began to rain, sometimes in torrents that drummed on our tin roof and sometimes it enveloped us in a fine mist. The frogs began their harsh and raucous calls. The rain has lasted into today, intermittently. We awoke in a frenzy of relief, eager to go out and see what the rain had wrought. It has rained pretty much all day.

Something about rain is just magical fertilizer. Of course everything looks green and full- the resurrection ferns and green fly orchids on the trees, the pastures,and everything else in god's wild yonder- all plumped up. When I inspected the vegetable garden during a sun break, I could see an enormous eggplant, several peppers, some cucumbers, lots of tomatoes,the climbing Malabar spinach, and the ever new crop of green beans. I can't believe that we have all these vegetables ready in early June! Usually, everything is gone and dried up by this time of the summer. It has been only four days since I trapped and dispatched the armadillo who ravaged the garden each night. It almost seems as if those plants that were left, heaved a sigh of relief not to be dug up every night. They decided to make a comeback.

Living in the country is a leap of faith. You have to think about the creatures out there- cows, deer, pigs, coyotes, tortoises, foxes, turkeys, and so much else. Who does what for whom? I have become humble about the way subtle ecosystems work. We think about what the 'experts' tell us about how to manage exotic invasive plants. We spend a lot of energy getting rid of the invasive soda apples in the pastures. We think about managing the invasive feral pig population, but so far have done nothing. We are becoming familiar with the different kinds of grasses we have on our land, some great,some invasive. (Andy and I are actually non-native invasives..)

I find this life fascinating. I love my forays out into the woods and swamp to examine things or to pick blackberries with my little grandson, Quincy, in the big patch in the pine island field.

And I love having the time to catch up on my life-time deficit of artistic creativity. Wonderful to be free to write, paint, sew, pot, garden, whatever.

Thunder is rumbling again. Perhaps more magical rain is in the offing.