Came through the storms!

So much for "my" chair...

Whew, there for awhile I thought we were going to end up in Oz last night.  There were tornado warnings in the counties north and west of us but we ended up with "only" severe thunderstorms, high winds, and heavy rain.

I should have taken advantage of the nice temperatures today but there were too many indoor tasks to accomplish.  I did return the porch and deck flowers to their proper places, all coming through the storm just fine tucked away from the possibility of wind and hail damage.

When we returned home from the amusement park last week, there was a package (I love packages...) from my friend Carolee of Carolee's Herb Farm.   She has been so busy this spring and still took time to dry lovage and send it to me.  Mine fried in the drought last year and I've planted one small start again this year.

I hung some of the lovage up to let dry just a tad longer and spent some time watching Max and Ruby while picking dried lovage leaves off the vine and placing them in an airtight container for later (Carolee says the vine can be used, too).

She is not only an excellent herb farmer but also a novelist whose books have herbs as part of their story.  I have her first two books... very good!  More information can be found at the above link.  I unashamedly begged the second book from her after wondering what happened to the people at the end of the first book.  :)

I harvested some of my apple mint a few days ago, swished it in cold water in the sink, and then let it dry for a few hours in a towel.  It was all transferred to sit on the kitchen "island" on another dry towel after that. 

Today half of it was tied and hung on the shower rod (we don't use the shower in the tiny bathroom for anything but storing paper products, etc.) and the leaves from the other half were removed and are slow drying in the oven.  We'll see how that experiment turned out by tomorrow.

Thank you for your understanding about my fatigue and all... I will continue to blog as possible.  I'm also dreadfully behind on e-mails and I know some have "slipped through the cracks".  I read all of them!

I hope to have computer time on Saturday to print out the various comments with favorite authors and titles, as well as the same information sent in e-mails.  Thank you for participating, it is not too late!

I will work on the post as I have access to the computer.