Gardening

One thing I miss is not having a vegetable garden. I’ve often had one. During the 1970s in Southern CA, my family and several of the neighbors each had gardens. We all grew tomatoes and zucchini, and other vegetables. I love zucchini cooked in several ways: steamed with light Italian seasoning, fried, boiled, and in omelets. If you’ve ever grown zucchini, you know it grows fast. One day you see the small yellow blossom, and before you know it, it’s ready to pick. I think you can hear them growing in the dark of night! A couple of summers in that neighborhood, we all had such big crops of zucchini and tomatoes we should have opened a farmers market on the street corner. LOL. Instead, we made loaves of zucchini bread, canned many jars of pickled zucchini, and all swore that we would take turns each summer planting crops. But by the time the next spring came, we were all planting our own gardens again.

"One is nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth."
Dorothy Gurney (1858-1932).

I believe Nancy and I had an appreciation for flower and vegetable gardens from an early age. Loved working the rich soil with hands, and loved the results of our planting. This early picture of us shows how we loved getting dirty and eating our fresh grown carrots. :-)

This picture of me tending the garden was a little later. I was digging among the corn.

How’s this for a zucchini? This was from Don’s and my garden in Southern CA. Normally we picked zucchini when much smaller, but you know how it is: they can hide under the big leaves!

Two additional quotes I like are:

"I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets...." ~George Washington Carver (1864-1943).

and as our distant cousin Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) said:

"Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow."

So maybe Nancy and I have an appreciation for gardens in our genes....

~Linda

P.S. Update: Apparently Delta and Dawn swam under the Golden Gate Bridge out into the Pacific, during the night hours Tuesday.