Dear Reader:

Memorial Day didn’t turn out quite as badly as the forecasters first predicted for our area…we certainly had some rain but it wasn’t continuous or torrential. We have a lot to be thankful for when so many harbor cities to our north had to deal with extreme flooding, as well as, the Gulf states. Hope everyone is safe and dry today.

So to paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote: ” Live in the Sunshine, Swim in the sea, Drink the Wild Air” Summerville hasn’t seen much sun, the rip tides are scary and most tourists are warned about them if they venture into the sea and the only wild air is pretty muggy…actually downright muggy… but still life doesn’t get much better these days. The long weekend was appreciated by those lucky enough to get it off at their workplace, so as to spend time with family, or read a good book, or start a fun project, or simply relax and catch up on deserved rest!

Speaking of reading books…it isn’t even June and I have devoured two of my favorite lowcountry authors’ latest ‘beach reads’ and just started on my third lowcountry author’s read. (Can you tell it has been raining a lot?)

The first was Dorothea Benton Frank’s latest book…By Invitation Only. When I heard her interview on our local Charleston morning program she said she got the idea for this new novel from her own life…since she has been involved with her grown children’s weddings over the past few years. She was lucky and everything went incredibly smoothly for her…but what if it didn’t? And those thoughts took her to the latest novel which is truly hilarious.

Frank is back on with her southern humor and just enough tragedy and sadness to make the story realistic, but also hopeful. A light summer read…which is where I am at right now…It hit the spot.

Mary Alice Monroe’s latest novel brought back some characters I feared were lost forever…but Monroe weaved in the new characters and latest generational family members so seamlessly with the more familiar comfortable characters we had come to love and adore. One always gets a lump in their throat throughout a Monroe book…but once again…hope prevails and nostalgia is left hanging from the trees like Spanish Moss.

Mary Kay Andrews’ latest beach novel just arrived yesterday so I haven’t had a chance to read it yet…but her novels are always filled with humor and interesting relationship twists and turns…enough to make you decide putting off going to the store one more day so you can keep reading. What’s one more day eating cereal for supper?

I love checking out my garden in between showers because the rain is just making the garden grow lovelier and the blooms pop out with raindrops hanging from them…absolutely breathtaking! Let me take you to my new favorite spot in the garden.

The photo below shows how my garden is finally starting to look like the ‘Secret Garden’ I have always dreamed of…I still have a long way to go… but certain spots now makes me breathe out a little more slowly and definitely longer.

So until tomorrow…Let’s make our own sunshine during the rainy days of late spring, enjoy a long soak in a tub or a long shower, and wait on the cool breezes of late evening or early morning …and be happy we are alive and grateful for it on this (now) past 2018 Memorial Day weekend.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh