ENJOYING THE RAIN

What do you do when it is pouring with rain and you need to take a photograph? If you are a daily Blipper, you find an old coat in the back of the hall cupboard and an umbrella then you get out there - complete with flip flops, so only your feet get wet!

Actually, I think the colours stand out more when the light isn’t so strong, so I quite like this shot looking down our garden.  I just hope that the rain will penetrate deeper than it has in the last few days, so that the roots of our plants have a good drink.

The garden is looking a bit bedraggled at the moment, but I enjoyed wandering around just looking and enjoying the sights and smells.  Mr. HCB pointed out a snail crawling up one of our sunflowers - I don’t think he realises that the Alternative Olympic Games are over but who am I to burst his bubble?  

There are still hundreds of blackberries to be picked, ready to be made into chutney - Lynn, our lovely neighbour gave us a huge bag of apples a couple of days ago, so some of them are now Apple Chutney, but I think the addition of a few blackberries will enhance the flavour and it certainly gives the kitchen and the rest of the house a lovely aroma.

We have been invited for a “socially correct” coffee with friends this morning, so looking forward to that as were haven’t seen them since before the lockdown - so we have a lot to catch up on.

I think the rest of this week is due to be much like this with heavy rain interspersed with a few dry spells, so we had better get used to it and in any event, the gardens did need it.  A friend messaged me this morning to say could I tell Mr. HCB to stop doing his rain dance now - she has had enough!  

Just as we finished our afternoon tea yesterday, Mike and Mr. HCB heard a plane, and said they thought it was the Spitfire that was doing the rounds of various hospitals in the West country, so I ran in to get my Canon camera and got a quick shot.  The light wasn’t brilliant as it had just started raining and the shot wasn’t that good, but we could see the message on the underside, which said “THANK U NHS”.  It was great to see it and last night on the Local News, the owner said that for a donation to NHS Charities Together, people could nominate someone’s name to be inscribed on the plane and these are all handwritten by his wife.  So far they have raised £30,000 - what a great idea and we did all clap as it went over.

“Life is full of beauty - notice it. 
     Notice the bumble bee,
          the small child, and the smiling faces. 
Smell the rain, and feel the wind. 
     Live your life to the fullest potential, 
          and fight for your dreams.”
Ashley Smith

P.S.  Of course, what other song could be chosen for a day like this?  I danced and sang!  

P.P.S.  Just had a call from our dentist's wife - we are due to go tomorrow and we had to answer lots of questions about temperature, fever, coughs etc and then she told me that we had to wear face coverings and to bring our own pens - then she made me laugh out loud when she said "And NO BLIPS"!!  She said she looked like a smurf and had put that one in especially for me!!  We love our dentist!!