July 24th, 2026

This is familiar experience around here during Rainy Season, which is right now.  Actually it began June 1st but we honestly didn't see all that much rain for the first six weeks. In fact, we saw so little rain for the first part of 'rainy season' that we were official under drought restrictions especially regarding such things as sprinkler systems and garden watering.

It got worse too.  Wildfires began to pop up almost every day or so  primarily due to lightning strikes (lighting yes, rain no which is a bad combo) and smelling that acrid awful smokey air outside was beginning to be a regular thing.  You knew immediately who was flouting the lawn watering rules just by walking down the street.  Any good looking beautiful green carpet of a lawn was somebody who was sneakily watering more. OR they had artificial turf, it was for sure one or the other. The rest of us had patchy, brownish, crispy looking lawns.  Things that normally blossom like mad this time of year were stretching themselves to blossom at all.

It was all getting to be pretty sad.

Then last week, just in time to save us all, the rain finally came.  Huzzah!  But then it kept raining.  And raining.  And Raining.  Eventually every day was gloomy, dark & grey with thunder in the distance and lightening strike notifications pinging on my phone continually.  It was either currently raining, had just finished raining or was about to rain every moment of the day or night.  There were a few nights where we woke up from such rockin' and rollin' and full  orchestration that we couldn't sleep. It sounded as if the storm were directly above our house (and who knows?  Maybe it was!)

I was reluctant to leave the house at all because, seriously, who wants to dash through rain coming down so hard it looks like a wall?  Once while driving, Tim - who is an excellent driver and never flinches - actually pulled over into a parking lot to wait until it let up a wee bit.   That's how you know  was a gullywhomper of the first order.  

Umbrellas are fairly pointless in that kind of rain. The wind will pull it inside out in no time flat and even if your bumbershoot remains whole, the rain is often coming in sideways and you are going to be wet regardless- umbrella  or not!

The green growing stuff was delighted.  Suddenly all the blooming things began blooming like mad, colour in every direction.  The lawns are filling back in looking green and lush and the birds are responding enthusiastically.   Lakes, creek, rivers and ponds are filling back up too and that's loverly to see though it also means, beware of gators. They are sneaky and can literally be in any body of water you can see, whether it's a just a gully on the side of the road or a full sized lake.
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Last Sunday, even though it was rainy with a prediction of yet more rain, we went for a drive.  We ended up by the water up in Sarasota and stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the view. I hopped out of the car between rain bands and took a few photos:

Today is sunny, at the moment and 88 degrees, and not quite a humid as it might be for a Florida July, but rain is expected this evening once more and that will keep the green stuff green.

I'm sure eventually things will settle into the normal rhythm of the daily 4 o'clock rain band coming through and then going on it's merry way until Rainy Season is once again over and things cool off and the humidity lifts a bit. That would be Tourist Season which is a whole other thing.

Wishes you a balance of the perfect amount of rain and sun!

​Have a great weekend!