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Sunday Letter: 05.20.18

May 20, 2018 By Talya Tate Boerner 7 Comments

Sunday Letter 05.20.18

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

I’ve heard from lots of you over the past week. Thank you for all the messages and emails saying you look forward to reading my Sunday Letter. Routine can be a good thing. Right? Something to anticipate and anchor the week ahead. I know I’m sort of putting words in your mouth now. ?

Sometimes the unexpected provides a welcomed change, too.

Unexpected Rain

Twice this week, we had unexpected rain showers. I’ve been watching the weather forecast since I was a little girl. Farm girl DNA and all. Getting rain without expecting it felt like quite the pleasant surprise. I thought about our ancestors and how they didn’t have the handheld luxury of an hour by hour forecast ten days in advance.

They would scoff at us.

I imagine they were adept at predicting storms and temperature changes by watching the behavior of their livestock, changes in the wind, the birds who provided warning.

Regardless, my plants and I enjoyed the week’s pop-up showers. I even walked in the rain. Maybe I sang a little. A dose of fresh rainwater and my hostas grew a foot.

I hope the farmers are getting what they need before summer sets in.

Watermelon Girl

Hope springs eternal every single time I cut into a watermelon. Do you feel the same way? There’s that fleeting moment of anticipation just before I crack it open. Will this one be the sweetest ever?

It’s not only the flavor I love. Each is packed with the promise of summer. Lake trips with Nana and Aunt Lavern. No one cares if the juice runs down your elbows and between the slats of the dock. Jump in the water to rinse off.

One time, we picnicked on the cement roof of Nana’s storm cellar, saved our watermelon seeds, and promptly planted them at the edge of Nana’s back yard, just behind her clothesline. Of course watermelon seeds planted in August had little chance of coming up, but like I said, hope springs eternal.

Royal Wedding

I didn’t watch one second of the Royal Wedding. It’s not that I was boycotting or anything. Honestly, it barely crossed my mind. Just after sunrise, I planted milkweed while my butterfly garden was still shady. I drank a bunch of Arsaga’s coffee (beans I ground myself), pulled a bucket of weeds, and added new seed to the bird feeders.

Did you watch? Did you bake a cake, get gussied up, throw a party?

I’m curious if there were any rain showers in London yesterday? According to tradition, rain is good luck on your wedding day.

All those years ago, I did watch Charles & Diana’s wedding from my dorm room at Baylor. I was attending summer school, and I woke up super early to watch. I hope Princess Di was watching her son’s wedding. I bet she was.

Lucky Me

While pulling weeds and not watching the Royal Wedding, I found a ginormous four-leaf clover. Opportunity cost, y’all.

I put it inside the pages of a book to press it flat. A little rain truly brings lush results. I’m taking this garden beauty as a sign of a great week ahead for all of us, Sunday Letter readers and the royal newlyweds.???

Will anyone care if I don’t include a School Kitchen tip?

Yours truly,
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

P.S. Did you notice? There’s now a Sunday Letter category on my blog menu. Click on it and you’ll find all prior Sunday Letters together.

[tweetthis]Today’s Sunday Letter is about luck watermelon royalty rain #SundayMorning [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:
GLEE – Singing in the Rain / Umbrella

Filed Under: Simple Pleasures, Sunday Letter Tagged With: spring gardening, sunday letter, Watermelon

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Comments

  1. Cathyv says

    May 20, 2018 at 8:16 am

    The pop up showers surprised me as well. Took me back to summers on the prairie.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 20, 2018 at 4:59 pm

      They were such a surprise!

      Reply
  2. Colene says

    May 20, 2018 at 9:24 am

    Lots of perks while not watching the royal wedding! Finding a four leafed clover being at the top of the list. No I did not watch any part of the wedding. The weather forecasts haven’t been too accurate lately. It seems like the weather has been crazy everywhere. The high temperature forecasted here today is only 67!! I slept through some pretty vicious thunder and lightning last night according to my husband. Have a great week Talya.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 20, 2018 at 5:00 pm

      You too, Colene! Looks like we have more rain headed our way. I’ll take what I can get.

      Reply
  3. Lesa says

    May 24, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    I love pop up showers, watermelon and eating it on the cement roof of Aunt Frances storm cellar!!!! She said, “girls don’t drop your spoons down into the storm cellar!” Well wouldn’t you know it, I dropped my right down that hole into the cellar?. Lol!!!! Love you and love your blogs?

    Reply
  4. Barbara Tate says

    May 20, 2020 at 8:33 am

    We never found that spoon. The ground is flat now where the storm cellar used to be. Maybe one day someone will wonder where that silver spoon came from.

    Reply
  5. Lesa Dian says

    May 20, 2020 at 9:08 am

    We all need a Keepsake spoon in remembrance of that day. Ill never forget the looks on our faces when I dropped the spoon. Lol😳

    Reply

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Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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