Love Among the Thistles

I have mentioned how dry it has been here, and how a drought watch was just issued for my part of central Pennsylvania. All day on this day, rain and thunderstorms moved through our region, each time, narrowly missing us.

When I first bought my house, I planted a bunch of trees along the road, and I watered them all the time their first summer, bucket by bucket. It has been dry enough recently that we worried about "my" trees, and so we decided to water them on this day.

The first issue we encountered was that our five-gallon buckets were all stuck together. So I unstuck them. I placed the stuck buckets, open side down, on the ground. I stepped on the handle, and then simply pulled up on the outer bucket. And then I filled all the buckets, and filled them again and again, and my husband took each bucket down to the yard's edge and dumped it on one tree.

It was hot, sticky work, but about two dozen trees received a drink. Then I took three buckets and watered plants in the backyard, including the iris beds and the monarda in the meadow. I also gave some water to our thistle plant, which you may see in this photo. It is a popular plant that is visited by every cool bug in our yard.

We felt pretty positive about our efforts, and we felt even better, later in the afternoon, when it finally DID rain. I went outside to bear witness, and yes, it happened: We got a gentle, soaking rain for about 30 to 40 minutes.

I sat on the porch and smelled the smell of rain and felt very peaceful. Do you remember how sweet the first drops of fresh rain smell when they hit dry earth? And then I was so happy, I was out dancing in the rain!

As we got ready for bed, hours later, my husband said he thought it was a good pairing, our own efforts enhanced by the bigger watering provided by Mother Nature. We both finally felt good, thinking our beloved trees would survive.

Here is a thing about love. We are not only speakers of love; we are doers of love. We put our love into action. We carry water to the trees and plants and creatures we love. And so yes, there is love here, there, and everywhere; indeed, even among the thistles.

The soundtrack song is for the rain we finally got on this day: Ladysmith Black Mombazo, with Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain.