Rain, Another Guizhou Girl and a New Toy

Took this photo for John today (he misses the rain), from our porch looking out into the backyard. Just after this, the weather authorities issued a tornado warning for this very storm (yikes!). And, ten minutes later. The yard needs mowing! It looks wild and wooly to me.

I just had to include this photo--all of these are unretouched. This was taken several hours later, near sunset. The sun came out for a few minutes. We had one more band of rain come through after this shot for a total of about 2 inches of rain today. Amazing color!

Ashley, a young girl from Luci's province of China (Guizhou), has begun modeling and acting. She is 4, like Luci, and lives far away from here. I know Ashley and her mom through our blogging...and this is a product of Ashley's modeling career! A doll from Toys R Us has Ashley's photo on the package.

We are really tickled for Ashley!

Now for the "toy" part of the post: A VitaMix blender! I figured that if I make Luci's rice milk for her, I will have saved enough to cover the cost of this machine in less than a year. (It's already paid for, but that alone will recoup the cost.) Here is the first thing made: Banana Ice Cream! You can let it harden in the freezer, or have it right away--these were really terrific milk shakes! (Yes, it was made with dairy and not Luci's rice milk...so I'll start that next.)