Down came the rain

My mum-in-law taught this nursery rhyme (amongst many others) to our boys when they were little:

Insy winsy spider, climbing up the spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And insy winsy spider climbed up the spout again!

She showed them how to do the climbing action with their fingers; they LOVED this rhyme.

Today, many years later the same words came up in my mind when we woke up to a violent electrical storm and a downpour during the night. After many months of draught, at last the rain has come down. And down. And down...

As you can imagine, in a farming community, rain in its season is so necessary and welcome when it arrives. The farmers are very pleased and thankful because it has almost become to late to plant their crops this summer. Now there will be a flurry of activity, with young farmers dashing into town in their pickups on errands for their fathers or for themselves if they've already taken over the farm. There will be groups of townies and farmers standing in the streets, in the cafe and of course, congregating in the Co-op, which is the farmer's second home, and talking about the rain.

As I type this post (on Tuesday evening) the rain has started to fall again. There was a little break between the frightning hailstorm (Angie and Eddy crept under the workbench in Grant's garage where he was working, while Megan lay under the kitchen table. I'd brought her in because she is really very afraid of storms) and nightfall, after which the rains came down again. And again. And again...

If the sun is up today as this post is aired, I will be outside with my gardeners (Simon also comes today) and we'll be weeding, eradicating perenials and planting more bulbines and tulbaghias that have been lifted and seperated.

Praise God for His great gift of rain. It is a reminder of the many blessings He showers upon us.

After a hefty thunder and rainstorm during the night, which measured 45mm/2 in this morning, we woke up to this sky. It wasn't over yet

The driveway and garden was soon covered in hailstones

Hail, hail everywhere

Small hailstones covered our whole property. I don't think there is damage. In fact, hail supplies nitrogen to the soil and plants so the growth should be phenomenal after this!

...and the rain came down...

The patio was strewn with mulberry leaves (from a tree at the corner of our house) and other debri

The area around my compost heap near the vegetable garden is a quagmire.The vegetables are under water but look reasonably strong and should survive the extreme wheather we're experiencing. I turned around to take photos but while I stood ankle deep in icy water, a bolt of lightning struck somewhere too close for comfort, whereafter I flew around and hoofed it back to the house, Angie hot on my heels! I decided everyone would have to take my word on this.