Sad Day for Sunflowers

I was out on a little excursion Sunday afternoon to buy canning peaches. As I drove down the interstate, I watched big cracks of lightning course through the clouds, and a minute after I walked into the orchard barn/farm stand door, the wind came up and the rain came pelting down. It was a pretty marvelous storm!

There is something very invigorating about a good summer thunderstorm, especially if you have to rush around closing windows, taking down laundry or running back to your car carrying a box full of fruit. (Or pick up 150 chairs that were just set up outside for a wedding ceremony, bring them inside, wipe them off and set them back up in time for the wedding - but that's another story.)   I think this is the first really good t-storm we've had this summer.

When I got home, our power had been knocked out (pretty typical) but otherwise the property was in pretty good shape - just small tree limbs and branches scattered across the driveway and yard. It wasn't until later that Adam noticed our casualty of the storm.

These sunflowers previously stood 7-8 feet tall.

The sunflower stalks couldn't quite withstand the wind gusts, and the biggest stalk snapped in two. Oh, summer's beauty cut off at the knees - the sunflowers were absolutely vibrant and gorgeous and just starting to set seed. They gave me such pleasure to see new blooms open up every other day or so. I feel unduly sad about this, but it really seems such a shame.

The most robust stalks of sunflowers broke, but the two spindly ones were just bent over and now we've propped them back up with a stake. Not a complete loss - but it still makes me sad.