May showers

April flowers

bring May showers.

Hmmm, something doesn't sound right about that rhyme. But that's the way it's been this spring.

Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans. ~Marcelene Cox

That quote expresses how I feel when it rains. I admit I don't like gray, gloomy days, but I still always have an ahhh feeling that comes over me when it rains. I am relieved that the gardens and grass are being watered. It must be the farmer in me.

Or how about this quote?
God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown

I was intending to get a lot of gardening done on Saturday. I really need to get out there and dig around, pulling weeds, and mulching, but it rained. So I cleaned bathrooms, did laundry and even did my ironing! So thanks to the rain, I have a clean house and clean clothes.

It's supposed to rain again tomorrow - our day off. I wonder if I can talk Andy into going shopping. Don't you think he'd enjoy that! We want to get a glider for our front porch, and what better day to go than when you can't work outside.

Speaking of the front porch...we bought and planted some bushes in between rain showers. We got 2 Pieris Japonicus plants. There are a couple of those at the church and I love their colors. They keep their leaves all winter, develop lots of white flowers in the early spring and their new growth comes in red. Another name for them is the Lily of the Valley Bush. We also put in some variegated green and yellow leaved euonymus plants. And we finally were able to plant the Beauty Berry bushes Christian had got for us in the fall. They made it through the winter and I'm excited to have them leaf out and bloom. They have bright purple berries in the fall that look like Skittles on a stick.

Without bushes

and with the bushes

Speaking of lily of the valley. Mine are blooming and look so cute and shy peeking up out of their leaves. I got these lilies from my grandma many years ago, moving them with me from Pennsauken to our current house. I must have dug them up from her garden at least 20 some years ago. I love them because of their fragrance and delicate beauty and they remind me of my Grandma.

My dogwood trees are in full bloom,
as well as the American redbud trees.

Our young lady missionary friend is still with us in our upstairs apartment, and last night another guest arrived. The son of our good friends who are missionaries in Brazil needed a room for the summer because he got a job close by. He is on summer break from college so he will be staying in our attic room. Andy's mom and dad spent some time this winter finishing it off and making it cozy.
He ate dinner with us tonight and was very appreciative of a home cooked meal. He said he was pretty tired of college cafeteria food. So it will be fun to have him here for 3 months.