Garden Tales

Everything is growing, growing and then gone. Squirrels are taking bites of the tomatoes, the grasshoppers stripping the okra leaves, so I'm picking veggies before they're ripe and using some of them in gazpacho. Who knew that unripe watermelon makes a lovely base. Here's Michael harvesting the hops. He uses them in his brewing and they're what make beer bitter but they smell so lemony fresh, not at all like their taste. And we've started growing our own seabeans from seeds. The ones we planted in the marsh didn't sprout. Maybe they got washed away in the tide or it wasn't salty enough, but all they need is some seawater, which we get from the beach. Life is good.

I found this little wood and wire house in a Mexican grocery store. How I wish I had something like this to play with when I was a little girl! Tiny baskets and jugs and a teensy mortar and pestle too, all under the watchful eye of our Lady of Guadalupe and His Divine Mercy. Oh, I miss the sweet times playing with my kids when they were small. Now Max has his own household and Dagny's going away to Ave Maria. She gave away almost all her toys when she was 12; I kept a couple of little pots and pans and utensils that I still use. Why yes! Sometimes you need the teeniest whisk :)