Island Rain

I promised to be at the Habitat for Humanity clean up this morning. We had a house sitting empty for months while a new recipient was found. The garden was neglected and some plants had been stolen. I was so tired from all the traveling this week. Losing my uncle Dan was really hard, I will miss him. I will try to use his life as an example for my own. I really wish that I lived closer to family.
It was awfully hard to get up at 7 am, get ready and drive 25 miles to the Key Peninsula, but I promised so I did it. Warren my dearest, got up and made my breakfast for me, sourdough toast and overeasy, oj and a hazelnut latte. He is getting to be a regular on the breakfast grill.
I brought red twig dogwood, crocosmia, cedar trees, iris, and a red maple to plant up for the new home owner. These offerings came from my small nursery that I run on the side of the house. Mainly I have things I get from all the local garden clubs and sometimes I get free plants from the South Seattle Community College nursery.
When I got there, all the regular guys were there. I teased them and dubbed them the Chapel Hill mafia. Chapel Hill is the biggest church in our area, but not the only one who participates in Habitat! Some of us come from my little church on Fox Island. We had coffee and doughnuts and I remembered how much I like it when Starbucks shows up with their volunteers. They bring all that good stuff and its free and yummy. The Habitat folks are all good and jolly, and share a camaraderie.
I felt cheered to be with them.
The morning was cold and later began to drizzle, we waited under the eaves for a while, and like all the rain around here it blows over quickly. I call it island rain.
Pretty soon we just worked in the drizzle. Fleece is handy for this climate, as it keeps you warm even in rain.
Finished up by noon and of course the sun came out all the rest of the day. Down here in the south sound it is sunny more often and this phenomenon is referred to as the 'rain shadow'. I found out later that there were several inches of snow up north of Seattle. This is a crazy place of unpredictable weather.