That was some serious rain on Monday. I may have heard the word biblical thrown around. Oddly, that morning I headed for work (outdoors) feeling smug that the weather forecasters only called for a few showers in the afternoon. I often say that I wish I had their job. I could be wrong most of the time and still be employed.

Violet had her college roommate visiting for the weekend. They went to South Beach. The roommate, from Missouri, was dismayed at the treacherous surf. Another Atlantic hurricane is stirring up our ocean. The girls returned happy but beat-up!

I’ve been busy filling in some holes in flower beds. Several of my garden accounts are staying through September. Luckily the local nurseries have some nice selections of fall bloomers — I pitched up several anemones which can take a fair amount of shade. They spruce up some spent astilbe beds.

Think twice before purchasing four-inch pots of asters. I love them, they come back reliably, however they seem to be a favorite of bunnies. I’ve even had bunnies jump into ornamental pots to munch on the newly planted.

Vineyard Gardens has some nice-looking cosmos in four packs at half-price. They will last until the first frost which most likely is the end of October.

I feel like I give a deer report weekly. I now have two youngsters on the property during the day. To their credit, they tiptoe into the weedy mess and find sedum and hostas that have not been seen by me all summer. I may be on the verge of giving up. Last fall I helped prune an old camelia. The deer had started the process.

I took about 20 two-inch cultures from the pruning. Dipped into a rooting solution and placed into a perlite and light soil mixture, they spent the entire late winter/ early spring on a propagating mat set at 50 degrees.

Remarkably, two of them rooted. I transplanted them into a holding area this past week. Hope springs eternal for their survival.

I was sorry to have missed the service at the Tabernacle last week with Rev. Raphael Warnock. I did, however, meet and have a great visit with Mark Miller who played the piano and directed the music for the service. He is the minister of sacred music at Yale. Hope to see him again.

Speaking of the Georgia senator, I was only able to stay awake until after his speech at the Democratic National Convention. I was able to catch up on Tuesday morning. I must say, it’s wonderful to have some hope about the upcoming election.

I cannot stress how much I admire Joe Biden — a true patriot. His withdrawal from the race revealed him as the selfless decent man we all know he is.