"A Few Less Words Here"

To quote Emily and Amy from "Tether" out of context, I've called this "A Few Less Words Here." I've noticed all my blogging friends have slowed down. It's spring and early summer here. The temps have topped 90 at record levels and the spring has had what I think of as a hot summer Langston Hughes like "Lazy Sway."  This doesn't usually grip us until July and August.

I got slow to post with all the end of the school year grade work, the graduation parties, the evenings of meals on the back patio. Already, I have mowed my way through the first round of Arugula, and replanted. The lettuce is done. The Kohlrabi is filling out like a teenage girl. The melons, cukes and squash are curling out excitedly. I'm training them up the freebie pallets. The chicks have the ribs on their beaks and real feathers. They eat alot and jump around in the chicken tractor. Before long they will need their space.They are out there now, scratching around, up like my daughter at wee hours- only she's secreted herself in the bathroom with a Glamour, trying new makeup techniques. They exert their independence by no longer cuddling together, unless we come wanting to show one off to a preschooler.

I had a fit of jealousy with all those Graduation parties. I was showered with the tenderest of broccoli and sweetest of true tasting strawberries. Real fruit and grocery-coddled fruit are two different flavors. Real fruit is bursting with the tangy subtleties that made me crave stealing it as a child. Oh, yes, I snuck into my grandmother's tire strawberry patches and secreted away a few berries. I niggled a few apricots from my grandfathers tree. And, last Sunday, my son and I gloried in the few mulberries that were plump enough to have flavor. Those are not the best of fruits. 

Now, I'm wishing I had a shirt that reads: Will Run for Berries. I've re-arranged my morning 15K to find the wild raspberries which threaten to turn black right after I pass them. Ah, I love this time of year. So far the beds are weeded, the rain holds and I'm still energized enough to throw out a few more plant starts. If my backyard is not a mess of melons- canary, cantelope and watermelon by August, then I've done something wrong. I'm not kidding. I'm already relishing the early US melons and I've planted over 15 in my yard. That's just ape-ish, isn't it?

This brick walk was lovingly uncovered by my husband last week! I plan to throw creeping thyme seeds and sweet woodruff over the path, after I give the melons a chance to trail out over it a bit. Closer within the garden there, my daughter planted the discount lily, blazing star, dahlias and a few other flowers. Can't wait to see what grows.

Dianne and her mother do the bulk of the planting, weeding and watering on the lovely cutting garden outside our parish building, just blocks from my house! At this time of year, it is best for the rest of us to do "speed-weeding" on our free moments before and after weeknight services.

As Amy and Emily say, and to take "Tether" out of context again,"Sow what you want/cause one day it's gone rise up.. / So plant what you need/ to make a better stand."