In the Chicago area we have had hardly a day without rain and some of the storms have been very heavy. If it was sunny in the daytime it would storm all night or vice versa. Thursday night it stormed all night and stopped about noon yesterday.Wehad about 4" of water just in that time not counting the water already on the ground. We had more water sitting on the ground then I have seen in our 13 years in this house. It was like a swiming pool to the one side of our house. You could not see grass or the brick walk just a bed of hostas with their tips sitting up. Luckily our basement was high and dry and the sump pump was going continually. It was a new one from last year plus we have a battery operated one also. Many people in the area were flooded out and many are still without electricity in our NW suburbs. We are on a small wooded court with just 6 houses. We are the second in and the 3rd & 4th. are at the lowest part of the street. Well we have fairly new neighbours who are from Korea and they do not speak very good English except for their teenage son and older daughter who is a concert violinist in Philadelphia. Well I happened to be in the garage after the rain stopped and she came running out of her house and crying run up to our younger neighbour on the corner. Tim ran down to her house and I thought for sure someone was ill or hurt. Well her house was flooding from water pouring down from the high point of the forest behind her house. Tim ran and got a shovel and started to dig a trench trying to get the waer away from her house. Our next door neighbour had a small pump and they got that going and I grabbed all the large bath towels we had and ran over with them and she started to sop up the water on the carpet with them. Well her husband came home and had a carpet cleaner to suck up the water plus the trench idea worked the best.

It started to pour again last night and all I could think of was them sitting in their house with the lighning and thunder worrying about flooding.

Well this afternoon there was a knock on the door and she was standing there with my large pile of towels, washed and dried and then she handed me 6 long stem pink roses for helping her. They didn't have shovels so I had taken 2 of ours over and she is keeping them in case they need them again.

I put the roses in a vase and filled it out with large hosta leaves. One of my favorite fillers. That is the pic above.

Tim's son was getting married today and he was just leaving to go over and help decorate for the rehearsal dinner but instead he grabbed that shovel and went to work. He was soaked because it also started to pour again.

We are very blessed that we have good neighbours - you never know when you might be the one who needs the help. Maybe someone smiled on Tim because this morning the sun was out and it was a beautiful day for a wedding.

I think the only one who liked the rain was my large fish in the garden on the deck that disappeared under water. He was probably in his glory with all that water. Just kidding as he stands about 2 ft. high but I literally could not see any flowers. I am hoping they all survive this much water.