Saturday, July 27, 2013

We are HOME!

Sometimes you have to go away for a while in order to truly appreciate what you are coming back to.  We went on "vacation" to a family reunion for a week.  I won't go in to the events of the reunion.  It's over and done, and we are home.  Although there was the really good point of reconnecting with a cousin that I haven't seen or spent time with in a really, really long time.



My yard looks like a jungle because it is growing as well as my garden.  It took me a moment to see the garden beds through the grass.  So I will be mowing Monday and Tuesday mornings.  But there was true joy in seeing my yard, garden and house as whole layers of stress rolled off of my shoulders.  I'm home.

A wonderful friend came over to check on the house and love on the cats while we were gone in trade for anything that was ripe in the garden.  And apparently lots of things were ripe while I was gone because she's canning salsa made mainly from that harvest.  But she did leave me something special to harvest - the first ripe ghost pepper.  It is bright red and definitely ready to harvest.  So sometime this week I will be experimenting with a pepper jelly recipe.  I'm keeping fingers crossed that it goes well.  Especially since there are quite a few volunteers for taste testings, including that cousin.

And there were surprises in the backyard.  The grapes and blackberries are finally ripe.  It's very late in the season for them but I'm glad that the birds left me some.  After getting to taste a few ripe grapes, finally (after 3 years), I find that I'm glad I took the time to research varieties and find this one.  They are absolutely delicious.  There aren't enough for canning but definitely enough for snacking on. 

As for blackberries, well I'll know how many of them there are after I wade into the mess that is that bed.

The Job's Tears are now flowering.  And the ginger is showing sprouts.  And the asparagus is sprouting ferns.

All of these blessing while I wasn't here to see them.  Yet in returning from that absence I feel all that much more thankful for their presence.



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