Lots and lots of rain yesterday – at times, torrential – culminating in severe thunderstorms during the evening. I know there were tornado warnings in some parts of New York and New Jersey, if we had one, I was unaware of it. And it looks like we’ve got more rain coming today and tomorrow and, again, on the weekend.

Ummm, Mother Nature? We’ve had more than enough rain this spring, thank you very much. I’m beginning to lose hope that the Secret Garden will ever be dry enough for us to sit there. Right now, that particular scenario looks impossible.

I’m hoping there’s a small window today where I can attempt to mow part of the front lawn. Doubtful, but you never know!

We have a beautiful tree up in the back forty. I’ve always loved its shape. One of our older, dead trees fell this year and this tree is now the star of the clearing. For years, I assumed it was some sort of ash. But the other day, I was up there to take some pictures and I saw blossoms everywhere! Have I never looked up at the tree at this particular time in the spring? Am I always looking downward as I mow the grass? Anyways, I was dumbfounded and realized it’s a chokecherry tree! And it’s gorgeous.

As I looked up chokecherries, the descriptions were always ‘modest in height’ ‘at the most 20 feet tall, rarely taller.’ Well, this guy is at least 30 feet tall. And he’s beautiful. Most of the trees up in the woods and the back forty are maples, oaks, catalpas, black walnuts, and elms. I love them all, but this chokecherry has more than a little of my heart. It has oval leaves that move gracefully in the breeze.

We’ve been here nearly 14 years and, once again, I have noticed something new which isn’t really new at all. Just to me.

Speaking of the back forty, we have some lovely wild honeysuckle there, actually we have it all over the property, but this pink honeysuckle is only found just under the chokecherry. It’s such a soft pink.

The lavender that’s in a pot on the Funky Patio.

I’m in the midst of a Beverley Nichols reading binge. I finished his first trilogy and have now started on his second. It centers on a house he bought after WWII called Merry Hall. In fact, this first book in the trilogy is called Merry Hall.

For someone who reads fiction predominately, I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. Although, Beverley Nichols’ gardening books are non-fiction mixed with fictional characters based on real people. He reminds me a bit of P.G.Wodehouse, my husband’s favorite. I find them very relaxing and amusing, often chuckling out loud over some turn of phrase. Right now, they are the perfect read! I’m so glad I grabbed the first three books (that I already owned) off my bookshelf and finally read them. I was hooked. That started me off on a quest to gather the next 5 books from used booksellers, as they’re out of print. I have 4 out of the 5 and the 5th will be arriving today or tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday.