Purple Rain

I absolutely adore osteospermum flowers, and every summer, I try to get some for our yard. I'm partial to purple posies, as you may have noticed. These pinky-purple blooms are lovely to look at and fun to photograph. So be warned: you may expect to see more of them this summer!

This year's crop lives in a hanging planter near the front steps of our house. The white railing you see in the background runs along the stairs. I started this day attempting to weed the flower beds that surround the shepherd's hook they're hanging on, but rain chased me away, and I was forced to spend much of the day indoors instead.

So I didn't get my weeding done. But I accomplished quite a lot of indoors stuff instead, as it was high time for some organizing of clothes to move into summer. I put away the winter sweaters and long-sleeve shirts, sorted through my extensive collection of black pants (why did I ever buy any other color?), and got out some shorts and t-shirts. I'll need to get some short-sleeve shirts out soon; maybe I'll do that after the next round of laundry.

I did run outside several times as soon as the sun broke through to try to get some photos around the yard, but even when it wasn't raining heavily, it was drizzling, and I was thwarted time and time again. I thought I might spy a rainbow, but I didn't. In this photo, you can see the osteospermum in a rare moment of sunshine after rain.

One of the benefits of an indoors kind of day is the ability to have a hot breakfast any time you please. And so we had not just one but TWO breakfasts on this day. We had cinnamon apple pancakes in the morning, chicken salad with ranch dressing for lunch, and then a traditional hot breakfast for supper. (Sheesh! You might think we're running a short-order kitchen here!)

As it is highly unusual for us to have not just one but TWO breakfasts in the same day, I've included a photo of "Second Breakfast" in the extra photos area, lower right. It was hot and delicious, and very easy to make.

The hashbrowns, by the way, are straight out of a box: Hungry Jack's cheesy hashbrown potatoes. You just open the top of the box, add hot water, let it stand 12 to 15 minutes, and then fry them up in a pan. Tip: frying in bacon grease definitely adds to the flavor as well. The little boxes sell for about $1.25 to $1.50 at the grocery store, though I can sometimes find them on sale for 88 cents a box. And then I buy LOTS!

So it was a tasty and delicious day, though rainy. In honor of the rain drops which look quite purple against the osteospermum, the song of the day is the marvelous Prince tune, Purple Rain. First up is the Etta James cover of the Prince classic. Second is the version by Stacy Francis, performed on The X Factor. And of course, just in case you're a purist, maybe this is the only version that will do for you: the purple dude himself, Prince, the one and only, with Purple Rain.

I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain . . .