Mixed Blessings...

The weekend did not start well, torrential rain, thunderstorms, and the oven blew up.

Well, to be fair, 'blow up' is a bit strong really. There was a loud bang, which I ignored, assuming it had nothing to do with me. We live on a main road (ugh!) and there are always noises. But when I went to check on dinner, the oven was cold. Raw potatoes welcomed me with a definite 'what are you going to do now' expression.

Luckily, I am nothing if not resourceful, and as said failure only concerned the oven, I chucked everything in several frying pans and finished the cooking that way. Now all I had to do was call out the repair man and wait several days for him to arrive. The microwave would be on double duty until then.




On a lighter note, only marginally it's true, I discovered that the rain had not done too much damage outside in the garden. There was just the one casualty, and it had to be the one flower I had been waiting to open for what seemed like weeks.

The red peony had opened long ago, but the pale pink one was very special and had taken its sweet time.  I had almost given up, thinking there was something wrong with it.




But as I walked down the garden, I could see the sadness long before I reached it. The pink peony had finally opened and the huge flowers had been beaten to the ground by the rain. Some of the blooms were mud splashed, so I rescued them and brought them indoors for a quick rinse under the tap. They never last long, but their display is glorious, so hopefully we can enjoy them for a while longer, despite nature's attempt to destroy them.

Many good wishes to all... see you soon!