Happy Long Weekend

The Pumpkin Cottage garden is blooming and we are starting to harvest yummy goodness.  In Lucy's famous words "It's tasty, too."   Tart eating and baking apples.  These are just like the apples I remember from the old house at 424 Purisima.  The little tree was easy to climb and we loved the "sour" taste. 

Blackberries.  We picked and ate the ripe ones.  When Joe and I were kids we would walk through the dry creek bed and pick blackberries all the way through until we reached the beach, stop at Snow White (the local burger joint) for soft serve ice cream before heading home.  Food, the images, the taste and smell, take me right back to a more innocent time.  Long carefree summers where we felt safe and life stretched before us.  The reddest sweetest strawberries all from right here in our little yard. 

We are looking forward to a variety of tomatoes.  The tomatoes planted in the traditional method are doing better than the Topsy Turvy tomatoes but it may be the variety of tomato and not the planting method.  Next year we'll try the same varieties just to be fair. 

Here is a view of my garden.  Still need to do more deadheading as you can see in the back.  There has been a riot of color out there so far.  I attribute it to my mother's presence.  When I am out in the garden I talk to all my plant friends "amigas" and my mae (mother).  I talk to her in Portuguese so my mother might understand and the neighbors won't.  It just makes me feel better. 

Have a safe weekend.  Remember all of those that sacrificed so much for us to be free.  So many young men, mostly, buried all over the world.  My mother used to say that she loved America so much because she never went hungry.  God bless America and all that have fought and died for her and us.  Thank you.