A Peachy Summer and an Old-fashioned garden

Squash.... squash....and more squash.

Butternut squash-- my favorite! You better send me some recipes to deal with it all! Plenty to share.

Banana squash that grew enormous! Had help lifting it.

Lots more squash and apples.

Peter and I had so much fun digging up the new potatoes.

Grandpa was impressed. Have YOU ever seen new potatoes that size?

How the garden looked in early June.

Some of the harvest in September
.

The peaches were beautiful.

I'm Back! (Wild Applause)

My late-night computer time has been limited to editing the photos I took at Whitney and Keven's wedding, reading a few email, and trying to keep up the reading of my daughters' prolific and entertaining blogs before crashing in bed. I promised my girls I would make this blog an informal journal of events, but even that guilt could not drive me to the keyboard at the end of the day. There was just nothing in my brain at night! But after all is said.... weeks ago I took pictures some of the abundant produce from our garden. It looked so beautiful and I wanted to share with you my joy in a remarkable garden. Now the frost is on the pumpkin--I mean, squash-- and the beautiful lush green foliage is shriveling up under the frosty hand of cold nights. Late or not, here are the photos anyway. This was a Joyful Garden year and here is some of the proof! (Wish you could have enjoyed the harvest when y'all were here.)

Jewels of Summer

This is what kept me busy all September. By the end of August I was ready for a break-- but the garden won out. However, looking at these jewels of summer (or fall, as you may wish) supplies reward enough and they look so pretty I wanted to share the pictures. It will all taste wonderful this winter



and will bring back the senses and warmth
of summer. Canning brings me special pleasure
because it restores old memories of eating cold
peaches on a Sunday night in my childhood.

We did a lot of things besides garden this summer. In fact, besides watering there wasn't much to do till August. So check the next blog to see a photo journal of some of those activities.

Getting Skunked Today was the second time we took grandchildren fishing this summer. No doubt this conjures up picturesque visions of snow-topped mountains and fir trees, breezes blowing through your hair (Doug's crewcut?), azure lakes, wildflowers and fish jumping. Which is partly true. There was a mountain, plenty of greenery, and a pond. Three ponds, actually, mostly small. Also, mossy sea-weed-looking stringy stuff growing in the water which snagged our hooks when we cast our lines out or pulled them in, and had to be peeled off the line. A white plastic chair lay submerged near the edge, probably blown in by wind, and empty cartons plastic bottles or worm-cartons strewn around occasionally. Did I mention plenty of flies and two shaggy-looking black and white spotted dogs, both mellow and mildly interested in us? Two children, aged 13 and 8, Chalease and Dennis, were there to "help." Near the "gated" entrance to the trout farm was an old shed with a door that hung at a precarious angle and an ancient refrigerator which held cartons of worms and fish eggs. In the shed were some air rifles for shooting the cows across the street, which Nathan and Peter shot later. Peter later said that was his favorite part of the day! Also, some extra fishing poles leaned against an old table. Not much money invested here! Nature at its.... best? But there we were today, four young boys, a grandpa in a wheelchair, a grandma who hardly knew a trout from a shark, and an enthusiastic son-in-law. So off we went on our second fishing adventure. Last week we took Nathan, 13, and Peter, 5, (Livingston) with us. The air was pleasantly cool and gusty, blowing our lines where we didn't want them to go. Despite that, Doug caught the first fish, I caught one and Peter also. All in all, it amounted to 5 and 1/2 lbs of rainbow trout which we brought home and fried in butter for lunch. Yummy! After that success, we planned another outing today with two more grandchildren, Joseph 12, and Michael 10 (Soto.) Their father Cisco joined us, and Nathan and Peter again. This time the sun was hot, but still there was a slight breeze to keep the air pleasant. We plastered on some sunscreen and marched out to meet the fish. This time we arrived an hour earlier, so we felt confident the fish would bite soon. But as the hours dragged on, no one had caught a fish! Joseph had stepped unwittingly into the hole which Nathan stepped into twice last week, leaving his tennis shoes muddy and dripping. By then I had untangled Doug's line twice, cut and restrung it twice, and had threaded earthworms on his hooks. (This is not my normal preferred activity, but I have enough farmer in me to do it without shrinking, though if the worm wiggles a lot, I might jump! Amazing what necessity teaches.) Finally Cisco hollered, "I've got one! It's a big one!" And it was. About two-and-a-half pounds of beautiful gleaming, sun-glinting rainbow trout. Nathan grabbed it with a net (provided as a courtesy by the fish farm, all with holes in them) and we all shouted: "Careful! Don't let it get through the hole!" Then the hook was removed and the fish went from the pond to a 5-gallon bucket. No one caught another fish for an hour, but eventually Cisco caught another big trout, Michael caught a smaller fish, and Peter caught four tiny fish, including one that got away by flopping into a hole in the grass which drained back into the pond. The size of those small fish didn't dampen Peter's excitement one bit; he scarcely noticed they were nearly too tiny to eat! After four hours of fishing, we packed up our gear and left for home. Doug and I were skunked, as he says-- no bites for us. There was of course rivalry between everyone to see who could get the first fish, Doug being certain he would land the honor today, but luck would not have it. Nonetheless, we all left happy for the chance to share the challenge of landing these "stupid" creatures who race and jump to eat the dog food pellets thrown into the pond but are too smart to eat the juicy worms dangling on the hooks. Cisco caught his fish with the dogfood, but I couldn't seem to interest any. I must say, my casting was the best! (No fish to show for it, but I have to salvage my pride somehow!) We topped off the trip with lunch at Five Guys-- hamburgers and fries, natch. Cisco was beaming as he took his loot home to cook up for dinner with mango salsa and fresh herbs. Perfect ending of a perfect day. Except that we were skunked. Can't wait to go again. No pix for these trips; my camera is in the shop with shutter troubles. I feel lost without it. But I was too busy untangling fish line to take any pictures anyway. Come y'all down and we'll take ya fishin' with us!