Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. – Langston Hughes, American poet, novelist, social activist (1901-1967)
I have always considered the rain to be healing-a blanket-the comfort of a friend. – Douglas Coupland, Canadian novelist, designer, artist (1961- )
The rains came down day after day after a long drought where the grass didn’t grow and what was there started to brown. We tried some sprinklers and walking around with water buckets. It helped some but there’s nothing like rain. Rainwater is free of treated chemicals as well as minerals, salts and a few other additives found in drinking water. Rainwater is soft. Imagine how it feels walking in a slow misting rain softly on your skin. Rainwater is the exact pH range for growing plants and can be collected off roofs, tree leaves, canopies, and bringing with them bits of organic matter such as leaf litter, pollen, bird droppings having dissolved into the downing rainwater. Rain barrels can be useful though I personally do not have one. I have tried placing a bucket or other containers under the roof gutter’s downpipe and use the rainwater.
I haven’t seen a garden spider in sometime then after the rain I spotted two. The first one was rather large and made its web in the Boston fern. A few days later it was gone so I’m thinking maybe a bird snatched it for lunch. Birds will eat any spiders except for large spiders like maybe a tarantula but hopefully I don’t think we have any tarantulas. The small garden spider built her web at the entrance of the perennial garden. She’s off to the side so I can walk right by her and watch her swing on her zigzag web. Another spider dropped right in front of my right eye. At first, I thought it was a “floater” in my eye, but it was a little black spider hanging from his silken thread. Fortunately, it was small.
For the first few months of summer our crepe myrtles did not bloom. Crepe myrtles are easy to grow in the Prairie. Most of our crepe myrtles were born of volunteers. We planted a row of them just at the height of the porch. I thought it would be wonderful to see the flowers blooming at eye level. This summer there were no blooms until the rains came and all six trees bloomed practically overnight. It was such a blessing to see their vivid fuchsia flowers. Following the crepe myrtles blossoms came the Resurrection lilies; they too seemed a bit late and in need of rainwater.
Then there were the bodock balls also called by some “Bois d’arc.” Typically, we have bodock balls, the fruit of the Bois d’ Arc tree maturing close to the fall season. They are a lovely bright green color and make nice decorations along with pumpkins, fall colors and leaves. So, the fruit of the bodock is either late for fall of 2023 or early 2024. Nature has a design of her own. The fruit that fell is much smaller than usual. I will attribute this change also to the lack of rain month after month. I hope you take time to notice the nature around you. It’s ever changing and never the same.
Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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