Thunder, Green Grass and cherry pie

Good Day!

We have had so much rain in the last 2 weeks.
Everything is still quite green. I know to some of you that is no big thing, but I do live in a semi-arid plain so by the end of July things are starting to look pretty brownish.
Not this year!
The rain has decided to come with huge thunder/lightning storms.
I'm talking windows rattle.
I'm talking the whole house seems to shudder.
I'm talking humongous bolts of lightning that knocks out our power.
I'm talking HUGE thunder, that goes on for several hours.
At night.
When everyone is trying to sleep!
For two weeks now.

homepages.paradise.net.nz

I have very fond memories of sitting on the edge of the Palo Duro Canyon, Texas at Hidden Falls Ranch. HFR is a Christian youth camp where I spent many summers there doing different staff things - cook, laundry, counselor, snack shop, etc. The Palo Duro would have lightning and thunder storms, across on the other side. The Canyon is so large that we would sit on our side, and watch the lightning on the other side, but we didn't hear the thunder, or have any rain.
http://www.hiddenfallsranch.com/

Absolutely fascinating!

skydiary.com

Our storms that we have been having are not that kind! First, there's no canyon edge to sit on an watch. We live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, so pretty much if the mountains are getting rain, we will soon; or we have the storms along with the mountains.

And yes, I can hear quite clearly the thunder!

Second, the skies are pouring sheets of rain, along with the booming thunder and crashes of lightning. (And no, I'm not being scientific here - just normal people talk- for all you perfectionists or weather scientists...)
:0)

photo by floyd menagh c.2005

middlezonemusings.com

I'm sure this is a photo of my neighborhood.

That bolt of lightning hit 2 houses down...

It sure sounded that way! Really...

So, in the last 4 days we have had to reset all the clocks in the house 2 times. One of the power outages took out a ceiling fan, light and controls. We still haven't found where to fix that!
Our driveway is crushed asphalt/rock. We need to go and shovel up 1/4 of it that has washed down to the neighbors!
My garden is being taken over by greedy, big sticker weeds. They love that combination of garden soil and tons of rain!

Am I complaining?
No, not really. Some things are a nuisance, but it could be so much worse. Our home is not flooded and we can still drive to the store and get bread and dill pickles (essentials, you know). The postman still delivers our mail. Tanner has grass to hang out on.
And everything is so green!

Here are a few Betsy McCall paperdolls,

going camping!

Time to bake a cherry pie!



Karen’s favorite Cherry Pie

1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie pastry, for two crust pie

            Or 2 pre-prepared frozen pie shells,

1 extra deep

1 regular

1  can cherry pie filling

1 /2 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp almond extract*

Follow the pie crust directions on the package.

Pre-heat oven according to pastry directions.

(I use my Pampered Chef stoneware pie pan – I love it!)

Combine all ingredients, mix well.

Fill prepared pie crust. Place second crust on top, pinching edges together.

Follow package directions to bake.

Notes: Have fun with that top crust! You can score designs in it like a heart with rays going out from it, or trace a cherry and cut out. Do fork-tine art!

*The almond extract really brings out the cherry flavor. If you don’t have any, use vanilla extract. I prefer Watkins vanilla extract.

Feel free to adjust the amount of chocolate chips up to 1 Cup.
Try it first with the 1/2 Cup though.

Well, that's it for today!

Think I'll go bake a cherry pie...

work a little on my 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the moment...

Maybe watch a John Wayne Western...

while I'm working on some scherensnitte...

or

there's always laundry!

Don't forget to smile today!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com