The Mountain Thymes

Cliff's seven foot tall True Black Brandywine standing proudly in the container garden.  It's full of green tomatoes that are slow to ripen this year.  Finally weeks ago the one on the right started showing a color change.  He said the left one was probably embarrassed and figured it had better follow suit.  Tomorrow he'll pick the ripest one but I'm not sure he'll let me cut into it to make a fresh-tomato sandwich.  I think he's expecting a tomato-picking ceremony.  And......he wants to save the prize seeds for next year's garden.  Also in a container is a Cuor di Bue Albenga that stopped growing at this height.  It's pencil thin and produced only one blossom.  It's planted in the same soil as the Brandywine, gets fed and watered at the some time. I chose Cour di Bue Albenga seeds because it's an Italian heirloom that's great for fresh eating, canning, and making sauce.  It's disease resistant and produces a nice pear-shape

Over two dozen yellow and green beans were planted in May. This is my harvest.  With every visit to the garden, I found missing bean leaves, chewed down until only a bare naked stem stood.  The garden is wrapped in a wire fence with tent stakes holding it tight to the ground.  There were never deer prints in the clay but we know we have the large bunny residing nearby.  I kept thinking the bunny was too large to fit through wire squares and we checked for openings often.  Mice can squeeze through a nickel-size opening but I never expected this large bunny to be able to get through this fence.  A few evenings ago I stood on the back porch admiring  the garden and the full lushness of the forest from all the rain we've had.  The air was still, not even a slight breeze, but one of the Swiss chard leaves was swaying back and forth.  Then large bunny moved on to the next leave and blew his cover.  Cliff and I stealthy  sneaked down toward the garden.  He went to the south end and I w

This afternoon I pulled out last year's calendar so I could justify that I'm not loosing my mind.  I usually keep a couple of years calendars tucked in the back of the kitchen cabinet to reference and because the pictures and the quotes bring a calm to some hectic days.  Each year when I get the new calendar, I transfer birthdays, anniversaries, other memorable events month by month.  Through the years, of course, we've accumulated more grand-babies, nieces and nephews, and added more family members by marriage. What used to be a quick task now takes longer and I also make notes of the ages.  He's where my justification is needed.  So far I missed one birthday and texted a birthday wish a week early to Grant.  The aging process seems to be cluttering up the once neatly organized calendar boxes with more doctor appointments, too.  Then I made the mistake of buying a smaller wall calendar this year.  Big mistake.  Next year I'll skip the 1" square blocks and go b