Tall corn stands thick and proud these hot muggy August days. The neighbors’ soy bean fields
delighted my eyes as I drove home from our village library and after visiting
with a friend today. The lovely bushy greenness spread out to the
horizon like a warm wavy blanket. After
last year’s drought, this summer in our region has allowed farmers to produce
bumper crops. We are grateful.
We have eaten very good zucchini casseroles of various kinds
to our hearts’ content and maybe a bit more than that. And corn on the cob from
our next-door neighbor’s bounty. And now huge red juicy vine-ripened tomatoes
with every meal but breakfast. The okra
has just started producing, so I will be putting more and more of that in the
freezer for meals when the grandkids are here.
I have made zucchini cookies once and bread several times for us and for
others. One is in the freezer for fall. (Gerald thinks a plant blight of some
sort will end the zucchini season soon.)
I have used sweetener for most of the baked goods except
what I gave away. I made a second batch of
zucchini bars yesterday that turned out vey good. It was a recipe in my files that I’d never
tried before. Maybe it is not accurate to say I made a second batch because the
first time I was also pleased with the result until Gerald asked where’s the zucchini. At that point after an extremely busy
morning, it dawned on me that in my rush of doing two or three things at once I
had never grated the zucchini I had laid out to add to the mixture.
I have not yet picked any garden produce. Gerald continued to complete the task even when he had to use just one hand being
careful to not violate any of directions
given him at the hospital when he had the pacemaker put in. But I have put corn and some zucchini in the
freezer along with some tomatoes and even one batch of juice I made for
wintertime chili. Despite my efforts to preserve some of the garden goodness,
Gerald has had to take many full buckets and boxes to our homeless shelter in
town.
The garden produce is not the reason I have been so busy. There
have been days when Katherine’s aides could not show up, and I have gone into town
to help her. She does not want me to, but she has to have help even though I
have no training for nursing.
Good things are also going on. Before her new teaching and
coaching job started in Texas , Erin was up for a weekend after all most a year away. It
was so good to see her. Brianna has
started her freshman year at Murray ,
and we enjoyed a girls’ going-away lunch date with her mom despite their own
work-crammed schedule this summer. Now Leslie is stopping by tomorrow on her
way from her Nashville home up to a wedding in
northern Illinois . Gerry is coming in this weekend, and he and
his dad will hunt dove in those beautiful sunflower fields Gerald planted. Next week Gerald will get a final check up
with the surgeon and two days later with the pacemaker people. So in
the midst of concern about Egypt and Syria and our daughter’s health and a
friend newly diagnosed with leukemia, life at Woodsong continues with peaceful mornings
filled with fog and beauty and days with worthwhile work for our hands to
accomplish. And now I am going to bed
for one of my favorite blessings—a good
night’s sleep.
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