The Unwelcomed Guest

The Unwelcomed Guest

 

When summer arrives in Provence it is usually warm, inviting us to head to the seaside soaking up the sun and the waves. 

We usually have our meals outside, in the courtyard. The days stay light until nearly to ten.

No bugs, no sizzling heat, beautiful blue skies… Summers in Provence are wonderful.

Unless.

 

The Unwelcomed Guest

 

 

Flowers are plentiful, colorful.

The shutters are opened, the flowers pots full. 

Unless,

 

 

The Unwelcomed Guest

 

 

 

The summer crops start to ripen filling the markets and our plates. In our town there is a farmer who grows organically and sells locally.

The tomatoes are not ripe, but the salad, melons, strawberries, zucchini… The farmer promised the tomatoes would come unless…

 

 

The Unwelcomed Guest

 

 

The lavender in our garden is full tall and ready for harvest (to be placed in the big urn inside our home.) I thought about cutting some today…

Until this unwelcomed guest arrived:

 

The Unwelcomed Guest

 

Hail.

Thunder.

Buckets of rain.

I want June back.

 



Comments

14 responses to “The Unwelcomed Guest”

  1. Annette

    Try living in Nebraska! 🙂

  2. Yes. I know. I really understand.

  3. Yes,,I totally understand…. Minnesota too much rain,,hail,,storms…lots of flooding…If only we could share some of our rain with California….

  4. OH NO were crops and flowers damaged?-gosh I hope not! lot of heat here the past 2 days rain all last week-beautiful weekend -I guess a little bit of everything

  5. Corey, sorry to hear of the storms. But, I wanted to thank you. You see, I am a long-term sub right now for our local school system. Technology education, even though, your friend here, is an art teacher (before children). So, we are down to the last few days, and I needed quick cover while posting grades. Well, my students LOVED your Saturday artist, Phillip Lota. He fit right into tech Ed & design. Thank you! Thank you for everything. xo

  6. Diogenes

    I wish you could too. We are dry as a bone here in LA. Never a cloud in the sky these days.

  7. We got the tail-end of your storms; they stretched right across the Med to us in Malta. However, our rain was a light, mere 5 minutes with some noise. How I wished for more – your bucket loads! We’ve had horrible Saharan sandy dust for weeks and gluggy heavy weather. More storms woudl have cleared it all. Back to dulled skies and humidity today! Provence infinitely nicer, even in the rain! And your garden so green for it unlike my dried dust bowl! Vive la France Corey! Though I am sure all those lavender fields aren’t luvvin’ the storms!

  8. I thought you were going to say there was a bug in your salad. 😉 I hope your happy weather comes back soon!
    Julie

  9. Leslie in Portland, Oregon

    Yesterday (Monday, June 16), we had exactly the weather you describe, after a long (for here) spate of beautiful weather. My begonia blooms, with their big open faces, were destroyed by 10 minutes of marble-sized hail. Climate change has made our weather, which used to be so temperate, very volatile. And it is far worse, of course, for areas that already had extreme weather. I hope your usual lovely summer has returned!

  10. suzanna

    heaven again ~ Provence ~ here it gets smoldering hot & then mosquitos & yellow flies come ~ my white wave begoinias are blooming like crazy, went with a white theme this year….picking old blooms off ~ I love organic farmer’s markets ~ Provence is where I am drawn to live ~ though our sugar white sand, emerald green, sapphire blue ocean is magnificent, along with our Pink sunsets are divine ~ I love the fall here ~

  11. I kept thinking there was a lizard under the table or a snail in your salad. A thunderstorm and rain are preferable to either of those. Of course, it dampened your picnic, but it did no harm (hopefully).

  12. Hail is definitely the most unwelcome visitor to a garden. I hope it was a small area that was affected. We have had more hailstorms this June in the Denver than I can remember in
    the past 50 years. I hope not everything was shredded.

  13. Oh that naughty hail and rain.
    It sounded so Shangrala up until the rain.

  14. Rebecca from the pacific northwest (now in Lagrasse)

    Ha! I recognize that sky!
    “It NEVER rains in June” I have recently been told by some residents of Provence. Ha.
    Your poor lavenders.

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