After four weeks of mostly blender meals and occasional ice-cream, I can chew again and what an amazing feeling.  We take chewing and digesting foods well for granted.  Going without gives a deeper appreciation of things that we do day to day.  My gum discomfort and sore spots caused fatigue, more than I realized.  

Clouds and rain..............

 My wisteria is blooming a second time.  This has never happened before.  One spring bloom is all I've ever been able to enjoy.  I figure it must be the plentiful rain.

Morning sun on the squash and zucchini open the flowers for the bees to pollinate.  Checking them a few days later I found the baby squashes dropped from the plant rotting on the ground from too much rain and not enough sun.  When it's not raining, the cloud cover doesn't allow any sunlight.  

The thunderstorm that came through earlier this month caused a lot of damage throughout Hayesville and areas in Murphy.  A huge oak tree in Clay's woods across from me was uprooted, this oak on Boulder Creek Road leading out of the subdivision uprooted landing across the road, and another tree was twisted and thrown onto the Blairsville Hwy blocking traffic to downtown Murphy and Blairsville GA.  This one was caused by a tornado only about a mile from me.  I watched the trees twist and sway here wondering if any would be uprooted.  Other areas had flash flooding and roads washed out.  Grounds are so saturated that any amount of rain could cause more damage.  

 

Every spring this window box is so full of flowering geraniums that the wrens feels it's a safe place to build a nest.  With too much rain and not enough sunshine it never produced and wrens didn't build.

 

Some of the many flowering plants I've added to the front yard since the trees were removed this spring.  I still have to put down bags of mulch but can only do two bags a day so I don't hurt my hands and wrists.  Hoping these new plants will root well and keep producing their beautiful flowers  which are bee, butterfly and hummingbird attracting.  The best part is they are also deer resistant.

A celebration was help at the gym I used to attend for a friend who turned 100.  

                                                     Austin 100, me, Dick 89 and MaryAnne 86

I'm the baby in the picture.  Austin still attends the gym a few times each week.  He grew up in Maine, served in the Marine Corps for four years and moved to Murphy with his wife in 2003.  He's an inspiration to many gym goers and such  joy to be around.  When the reporter asked him how he was going to spend the rest of his day, he replied "I'm going home and hop on my zero-turn to mow the lawn."

Tomorrow evening Janice and I are going out to eat at Michaelee's Italian Restaurant to celebrate eating again.  We haven't  been out for four weeks so looking forward to a nice Italian meal again and I don't have to clean the kitchen or do any dishes.