Gardening in the Rain

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Gardening in the Rain

It started with a gentle tug
to trim a succulent from a jug
stuffed full with hardy hens and chicks
but tugs turned into pulls and picks
Until the pockets of my pants
and both my hands were full of plants.

By then, I was already soaked,
for as I pushed and pulled and poked,
the storm that had been gentle  drops,
turned into pelts and then to plops.
Since cool rain was a respite from
days of heat and glaring sun,

I loitered some along the way
to see what new additions lay
along the path that stretched between
the lower garden where I’d been
and the house far up above—
that toasty place—that cushy glove.

But then there was that empty pot
(whose jade plant we’d moved to the lot)
where there was dirt but plants were not
and all those cuttings I’d just got
stuffing my pockets, filling hands.
Can you see how the plot expands?

Thus it went that for an hour
I stood there in the soaking shower
restoring beauty to the pot 
where formerly beauty was not.
Then, dripping in my sopping clothes,
I used my sleeve to swipe my nose

and shed my clothes all at the door,
tracked wet prints across the floor,
hung up wet clothes and dried my skin,
then used the towel to wrap me in,
and meant to dress and have a meal,
but couldn’t help it, had to steal

to the window for one look more,
then opened up the sliding door,
and, one hand clasping tight the towel,
I headed out with garden trowel
to add if needs be one plant more
to the pot planted before.

I love gardening in the rain.
and see no reason to abstain.
With no sun to scorch my skin,
no reason to remain within.
And since I loved where i had been,
What I did once, I did again.

 

(Click on photos to enlarge and read captions to hear the rest of the story.)

Then I spotted those hen and chicks
and other overgrown pots of succulents.
And sure enough, rain was soon stippling the pool,
but that didn’t stop my collecting,
It was then that I remembered the empty flower pot on the boulder near the pool.
Nearby was a large-leaf jade plant I’d been meaning to trim back
and a number of offshoots from a plant beside the sidewalk
And before I knew it, the empty planter was empty no more.
Four hours later, my blouse is almost dry.

 

29 thoughts on “Gardening in the Rain”

        1. lifelessons Post author

          The question should be does the pool stay hot? It is fed by a steaming hot mineral pool. I have to mix the water with cold water to cool it off enough to swim in. My pool is jacuzzi temperature most of the time. Ahhhhh.

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  2. slmret

    We had about 5 minutes of heavy rain a couple of days ago, accompanied by 5 minutes of thunder — it was so nice to have the air naturally cooled for the morning, and the humidity up a little from 5% for the morning too! I didn’t get outside to garden in the rain — but I did think about it!

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      1. slmret

        Ithink the hot weather is worse than the chemo treatments! After 2 treatments, I have had minimal side effects — I hope that lasts for the remaining 2/3 of the treatments! Meantime, I’m still living life in the slow lane, napping every day (unusual for me), and thoroughly enjoying Leslie’s book!

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        1. lifelessons Post author

          I really enjoyed it as well. There is an audio version, too, which she reads. She has a new book on Marion Davies coming out this month, I believe and then she will start to write the sequel to Fourteen.

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          1. slmret

            Marion Davies is an interesting character in the history of California — I hope there’s the story of WRHearst and San Simeon as a part of that book! I will look forward to the sequel to Fourteen, too — it’s much more a page=turner than I expected, and I can relate to many of the emotions she describes. I’m in the Marquesas with them right now!

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          2. slmret

            Please do — I thought I’d read Fourteen during my 6-hour chemo sessions, but it’s so good that I’m getting through it between sessions! I hope the Marion Davies book comes out soon so I’ll have a good book for the last 2 or 3 sessions!

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    1. slmret

      The only problem with the rain in Seattle is that it never stops! In one of the 5 years I lived there, there were 300 days of rain, and only 65 without!

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        1. slmret

          YES! After being divorced, I stayed there another year and a half, but jumped at an opportunity to move back to Santa Barbara! I’ve been back a couple of times, and found that I was really depressed by the rain and the overabundance of green trees in town! Couldn’t wait to get back to Southern California!

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