and the rain continues...

We haven't seen the sun in 2 weeks now and we had to board a plane and cross a time zone for that! Our container plants have been weakened by the force of the rain, and not to mention being over saturated with water. The wet summer we're having has made me contemplate whether to exchange my unworn birthday sandals for a pair of much needed wellies instead.

The thing about the rain here is that it comes in spurts: very heavy, short-lived, and throughout the day, making it exceptionally difficult to time a stay-dry run. I've discovered the trick, though: get into your running gear, wait for two rain intervals to subside, count to 20, and run in the proximity of your home, enabling a quick dash to dry safety if need be. Sometimes this theory doesn't hold -- like today -- and you end up running in the rain and arriving home during the dry spell.

When I work from home, I tend to set up my office space on the kitchen table - it's the close proximity to the cupboards and fridge, you see. With my back to the window, I'm constantly shoulder-checking to see if I can catch Mother Nature before her act of crime but normally the loud sound of the deluge pouring from the sky is enough evidence. My constant checking is more of a nervous twitch now, triggered by the constant rumble of the trains or trucks nearby.

With all the rain we've been having, I've been busying myself at home - this is not difficult with my new kitchen scale! The scale makes me feel like a research chemist all over again, such that whenever I use it I feel the urge to calculate the moles of my ingredients in a hard-covered book. I've baked so much that, surprisingly, in response to all the baking I've done, my husband has now requested that I not bake for awhile. And if you know how much he likes his sweets, this is an unbelievable feat!

I've broaden my baking repertoire in the past few days with fruity and chocolatey items and probably will expand it further with the arrival of our first house guest next week! The one thing about having this bowl-of-cereal-for-dinner friend is that he's very appreciative of anything placed in front of him.