I am trying to keep up.   No, I take that back: I am done with trying to keep up.  At this point, I am doing the best I can.

I had a good excuse in getting behind in my garden this year because, yes, Asheville officially got more rain SO FAR this year than Seattle gets in A YEAR.  And we got 10 inches in the first week or so of this month, July.  And over an inch and HOUR on the 4th of July. I think that makes us an official rain forest.  And in case you didn't know it, it is hard to plant anything when the soil in the raised beds looks like soup.

Talk about how the weather affects my mood, well, all I can say that for those weeks (yes, weeks) that it rained and rained (and rained), I was not feeling very happy.  I almost moved back to Cleveland.  Oh wait.  They were having the same weather!

I am very grateful that the rain stopped, the rivers didn't overflow, and that we have a good roof and excellent french drainage thanks to the genius of my Swiss husband.  I did become a born-again Christian though, because the rain stopped as I got down on my knees to pray.

When the sun finally did come out, it felt kind of weird.  And after not seeing the blue sky for a very long time, I couldn't believe how much I had missed it; so much so that I had to take a picture of it:

I am seeing that things always work out; that letting-go and trusting is a good thing.  And that this is the new normal so I can stop whining about how it is so intense, etc.

I am also seeing how much of a baby I am if the sky isn't blue and sunny all the time.  I mean, the ice caps are melting fast, it's getting harder and harder to vote in my state, and now we can't even protest anything because it's a crime and I am feeling depressed about the weather?

So out of necessity, I'm making time each day to disappear: into my garden, to lay down on the floor with my feet up, to write a letter, to put gold dots on the new batch of business cards, to read a book, or to bake.

Carolina turned 17 this past month, and I wanted to make her something special.  I knew she would appreciate a cake with lots of layers with chocolate icing and frozen peanut butter cups between each layer and on top.
And she did!  I found out that while I do like to bake, sometimes, it takes a little practice to make such a cake.

The next time I make the "Smith Island Cake" it will look like the one below (click on the picture to get the recipe that I used):

So while everything seems to be crazy and even if I don't read too much of the news, I like to spend more of my time in my own world.

I'm just wondering, how do you unwind?  Let me know when you get a moment.

Lots of Love,

Sadhvi