Tomatoes

Hello, We were given some tomatoes. They were the best tasting tomatoes I have eaten this season. We had enough to can so we did one batch of eight quarts yesterday and another batch of eight quarts today. I thought there might not be enough so I went to the community garden even though we seldom get any tomatoes there. Usually, others pick them. I picked quite a few regular size, small sized, red and yellow. The okra was ripe so I picked that too. Half of it was too large so it was thrown in the compost. The green beans were in about the same territory. There was a small amount of broccoli. It was a busy time in the garden. With the okra requiring the most muscle power to separate it from the plant. The okra blossoms are beautiful. That is my favorite part of the plant. I was able to give away many of the yellow tomatoes on the way home. As it turned out we had plenty of tomatoes. Now I wonder what to do with the rest of them. It looks like about three jars full. Which I might do just to care for them. When Leroy fell, his watch did create an alarm. I kept thinking it was on the phone, so we could not find it. Luckily, we thought of his watch just as it was texting that it would call 911 unless Leroy let the watch know that he was alright. Good to know the watch works as advertised. Now we know something about what to do. When it goes off we might even look there first. I might even have to get one too. Paula

Those exciting walks

Hello, Last night we walked in the wonderful weather. We were more comfortable that we have been in recent days. It was dark, but we have flashy lights to help us on our way. Rather the flashing arm bands make us more visible to drivers. We cut through the campus that is on the way. As we were on the sidewalk by the garden, I saw a snake. When I said something, it zoomed off of the path. Leroy just barely saw it there. I was pleased that it had not gone under the fence, but was tucked up close to it. Leory pronounced it to be a garter snake. I am not as sure of the identification, but I would agree with him. Today we were again walking through campus. I now walk faster than Leroy so I was ahead of him when I heard, oof, and a fairly loud slamming sound. Looking back, I saw Leroy on the ground rolling over onto his back. I wondered did he have a heart attack or a spell. What was he doing on the ground. “What happened?” I wanted to know. “I stubbed my toe.” He groaned. He held out his hand for me to help him up. I wondered, should he lay there awhile, but he was not into that. He got to his feet with some groaning. His hand had a small puncture in it, but he seemed ok otherwise. Three students came over and wanted to know if they could help and what happened. Leroy showed that there was a split and raised part in the sidewalk which they said they would report. Leroy did have some scrapes on his knees which were under his jeans. Luckily, the church has band aids. He now tells me he is sore in many places. We are grateful he did not break any bones or hit his face or head. Paula

Labor Day

Hello, Leroy and I took a nice short bike ride this morning. The air was cool, but our bottoms noticed the small seat so we were glad to go home. In the afternoon we went to a park that has an arboretum as well as trails and a newish playground. It was nice to walk around. We saw wild flowers, planted trees, butterflies, dragon flies, and many dogs with people. Even one three-legged dog. Some were panting and looking hot with much hair.

On the way home we stopped at a store to get some underwear for Leroy. They had both the size and style listed on the website. On the shelf there was only one package. The package had been torn open. Leory counted seven pair and not the stated six. On one level that was ok, but it should not be ours. Two of the pair had been taken out. The folding did not work like the others. We checked the sizes of those; one was a large and not a medium. There was a person there so we asked about that. She checked and learned there were no other packages in the back. We decided to take it anyway. At the check out we explained the situation and she was ok with that. She checked it out. I told her I had my own bag which Leroy was holding. Somehow the package missed the bag and the pair fell out. Leroy picked them up. On the way out of the store, someone called after us. We had failed to pick up one pair. There are honest people all over. Paula

In the Garden

Hello, This year, we have neglected the community garden much of the time. We have been gone or is too hot or it is raining. We have great excuses, however when I see the weeds in the garden, I am ashamed. Somehow, I could make myself get more done in the past. The other evening, even though it was still in the 80’s, I said, “I am going to the garden. There are beans that are ready to pick. If they are there too long they will stop producing.” Leroy felt guilty so he went with me. We walked slowly and had had quite a bit of water before we left the house. Leroy was wearing gloves so he went right to picking cucumbers. Some of them were quite large. I noticed some tomatoes very low on the plants. I was picking those when two boys came by. They had been playing in a vacant area. I asked, “Would you like some green beans?” They thought maybe they would like some. Then I picked some tomatoes for them. They also said they liked cucumbers. They did not like okra, but their dad did. They got all of the okra, several tomatoes, and many cucumbers. I was pleased to share all of these things. They wondered if it was our garden. I told them it was for everyone. Then one of them wondered if we took care of it. I was ashamed to say we did since there were so many weeds. They were pleased and thanked us for the produce as well as letting them know about the garden. One the way home we saw someone sitting on their porch and shared all of the green beans with them as well as two cucumbers. It lightened our load considerably. My heart was full. Paula

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Hello, We rode an amphibious vehicle around town for 30 minutes and on the water for 30 minutes. It is like the duck boats at the Wisconsin Dells. It was fun. We even went past the public library. It is not often that libraries are pointed out. There were sights that we would return to, this was just an overview. Entering the water got people in the front seats and one side especially a bit wet. Leroy had a sense of spray on him. It was a pleasant time on the river. I like the views from both land and water.

Later we went to the Victoria Garden. It was beautiful and great in the shade. We learned there are four things that make it a Victoria garden. It needs more than four species, a water feature, formal layout, and was it a boat feature? Not sure of that last one. this garden had all of these. The boat was a replica of the Titanic. It was wonderful to just wonder around the space as we navigated from one end to the other.

A woman who lives close stopped and visited with us. She said, “I come here almost every day.” She proceeded to explain some of the plantings to us. I appreciated her sharing. People all over the world are so good and helpful. I hope visitors to the USA find the same welcome and help. Paula

One Ferry Ride

Hello, We had two ferry boat crossings on our bus trip. We ride onto and off the ferry on the bus. One was a rather short 75-minute crossing so we did not spend so much time out of the bus. We go to an upper deck for the ride. That gives us time to see any sights. I always like to see the shore disappear and reappear. It was windy and cold for the shorter ride from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia. It was comfortable to be inside for much of that trip.

On land we toured the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. I did not know that he spent much of his life in Canada. I must not have listened in history class because I think of him as having been a USA citizen.

We also drove on the world’s deepest causeway that goes from Nova Scotia mainland to Cape Brenton Island. There is an s curve as part of it. It crosses the Strait of Canso. All that we have seen of Canada is beautiful country. Nova Scotia is a peninsula including Cape Brenton Island. Which is surrounded by a mixture of salt water and fresh water. They even did coal mining here. Salmon is a food source. They are serious about them still coming. If the fish is more than six pounds, it must be released to lay eggs and keep the population going. We stayed at a resort which had water front area. It was raining on arrival. In the morning it was clear. Down at the water, we could see starfish, crabs, jelly fish, and minnows. I was impressed to be able to see the jellyfish swimming around. Paula

Summer Produce

Hello, I am always so excited with the advent of summer produce from gardens around me. Wonderful that no plastic is involved, the product is fresh, and usually organic. What could be better. We picked in the community garden this morning. There were quite a few green beans. More than we can eat in one sitting or even two. It is fine to give some away. They are green pole beans so we do not have to be low as when picking bush beans. I have to confess I do not feel so generous when I have put a lot of work into the harvesting of the items. We picked a big bag of cucumbers and all but two were given away. I had just bought some cucumbers, because I had not seen so many in the garden on my last visit. There was also a very large zucchini which also was given away. We did have some okra, but I made them into a stir fry that we had for lunch. I almost forgot there was a lot of broccolis, but we have most of that. It is a lot of little heads and some worms were in there too. Others are not so excited to get that. Luckily Leroy went with me to pick the green beans and a few other things. He is a great pack horse as he carried much of the weight home. In the past I often did this by myself because he was working full time. I wonder how I managed it all. Paula