Have you seen the drought map of the U.S. lately? It’s not good to see much dark orange, red or dark red and unfortunately, those are the colors that envelop most of the map. The July 4th holiday news reported that 25 states were in drought alerts and 20 states cancelled fireworks celebrations, and for good reason. It’s just depressing.

The cracks in our front yard have reappeared, my garden burned up and it looks like most people’s sweet corn fields are headed that way. What little corn is there, the coons have scavenged.

But in the midst of the crunchy brown grass when it seems like the only green thing that will grow are weeds, here lies my Sweet Pea bush blooming with purple and white flowers. Against the background is a small, steel wagon wheel and last year, the climbing tendrils barely reached the top of the wheel. This year, I have to move its arms to mow so I don’t cut the ends off!

The good part? I have only watered it twice the entire summer. The bad part? It’s on the west side of the house so the only people who get to enjoy it are people who come to our back door or drive all the way back to our shop. And that’s not many!

Until we walk again …