Pages

Monday, July 23, 2018

Who could ask for more?

Mother Nature was teasing us yesterday...


when she gave us both rain and sun, together. Isn't this neat? It was pouring down rain and all the while, the sun was shining bright.



Searched the sky over for a rainbow but didn't find one. Then my neighbor Ann called and said, "Mel, on the way home from town, I saw the biggest most beautiful rainbow".



Oh well, on to the teeny tiny garden...


which is winding down after that long dry hot spell.


and let me tell you about the corn we were so proud of...



Two short rows of green healthy corn and the ears are not fit to eat. Seriously! It has absolutely no taste, and the kernels are, are, well, unusual...stick to you teeth kind of texture, and did I say it has no taste.

This has also been a bad year for green beans. Why, anybody can grow green beans, but not me, not this year. A few years back I canned 64 quarts of green beans, all from the little garden. This year we've eaten green beans twice and once, I've given Nellie a bag full.



Don't you just love zinnias? A little garden is not complete without a row of flowers, no matter how small. 






I do love the wreath of tiny yellow flowers inside the pink petals.


and a big old sunflower with lots more buds to open.



This is way too many pictures, oops! and this one...




might as well add it too. Maters and stuff from the garden. :) Oh, I've told this before, but years ago, down home...

Billy stopped by to see mama and my step-dad Bill. They were in the kitchen, where most of the visiting took place, and mama said, "I sure wish we had a good ripe tomato from the garden".  Billy said, "ain't aunt Rache got'ne maters?"  Good old hillbilly slang. (Rache was short for Rachel.  Aunt Rachel lived down the road a piece.)

Need to get back to work. I've cleaned and vacuumed and mopped, even moved the dining table and chairs to get to all the dust!

Hope to be back soon!

Love,
Henny





40 comments:

  1. Love the photos of sun & rain happening at your place and your garden and produce look great!

    Happy, living, life. ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lorraine. Wish I could grow flowers like yours.

      Delete
  2. Just look at that bowl full of gorgeous veggies from your garden!! It sure is too bad about your tasteless corn. DH brought home a dozen cobs he bought from a roadside stand and they were the same way. They looked good but had little taste and did they stick to the teeth!! I've never been super crazy about corn on the cob and I think this finished my wish for any.
    Your Zinnias are lovely. I think I've mentioned that exactly TWO of my seeds grew. Last year they were so pretty. Same variety as last year so why didn't they grow!!
    Must stop rambling on. Have a great week!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Isn't it funny how some years, some things just won't grow. Corn on the cob is my favorite summer vegetable. I love it!! It is very cheap in the grocery stores now, so I will just keep buying it there and feed ours to the chickens. You have a good week too!

      Delete
  3. HeHe! When l was a boy..growing up..and..yes..l did
    grow up..l was told if it rained and sunshine on the
    same day, and at the same time..it was a 'Monkeys'
    birthday!
    Don't ask..which monkey..just a monkeys birthday!
    Just one of those silly 'old wives tales'.......! :).

    Everything looks lovely and bright, and l love things
    lovely and bright..especially when l look in the mirror,
    of a morning..1 :).
    Love that pink flower..it's amazing..and l love flowers
    to remain where they belong, in the ground, in the fields,
    in the hedgerows, NOT! NOT! Cut, and put in a silly vase on
    a window~sill..left to die, without living the other 50% of
    it's life..! :(
    Plants do experience Fear and Affection..and they respond to it..
    If you cut a flower..you cut it's life in half..Known fact..!!!

    Goodness! That was all a bit serious...Here's a few more silly
    saying....
    When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane...
    Everybody looks brave holding a machine gun...
    God I want patience, and I want it now..
    He who laughs last probably doesn't understand the joke...
    A day without sunshine is like... night...
    Therapy may be expensive, popping bubble wrap isn't...
    If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out...

    Well..'There it is' as they say..Lovely bright post to
    finish the day with, it'll be dark over here in a few hours,
    so..a couple of episodes of 'Swamp Murders' and l'll be ready
    for bed...! :o). (=මිᆽමි=)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never heard that about the monkey's birthday! That's funny. :) I feel the same way as you about cutting flowers. I just can't do it. They are so pretty growing outside. Well, I have occasionally cut flowers, especially wildflowers, and put them in a vase, but then I feel sorry for them. Ever since you told me about "Swamp Murders", I keep looking at our place here out here in the woods and wondering if it looks swampy and scary! :)

      Delete
    2. HeHe! I'm sure l saw a torso, floating on top the
      pond in an earlier post..! :).
      But..I'm sure there's 'no~body' around...! :).

      Delete
  4. Thanks for sharing all of those pictures! It gives me a feeling of "being home". By the way...I completely understand Hillbilly slang. My Mama was a hillbilly and my Daddy was a redneck...so I guess that makes me a "Hillbilly Redneck"! Either way, I know exactly what Billy was saying!

    Grace & Peace,
    Pam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Pam! That's funny. Glad you knew what I was talking about (Billy). I bet a lot of folks would not. I've always thought what Billy said was the funniest thing.I think about him any time someone calls a tomato a "mater".

      Delete
  5. Sorry to hear about your corn. Don't know what to say.
    Glad you have some good stuff to eat, though. the veggies (and flowers) look great!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Try "Incredible" corn. It's the best. It's all we plant anymore. Nothing compares.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Arlene! I'm going to remember that for next summer.

      Delete
  7. I tried corn this year as well, just 4 little plants....I'm worried the bears will rip the fence down to get to them. I'm guessing you don't have bears in your teeny tiny garden? Our beans are going mad, but we have no luck at all with peppers and we're a long way from a red large tomato...the cherry tomatoes will be red soon, though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I hope the bears leave your corn alone. We've never seen a bear near the yard, but Poppy had one tear down his game camera...it snapped a picture of the bear's face and paw. The camera was torn off the tree and lying on the ground. That was just a quarter mile down the path near the creek.

      Delete
  8. How disappointing that the corn was not up to standard. The rest of the produce from the garden looks good, hope it was tasty?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I simply love seeing all of your pictures Henny. You live in a serene little setting, cocooned from the world, or so it seems :)
    Love your garden, and it's flourishing bounty, despite an abundance of shade, you always seem to have the best harvest.
    Hugs,
    ~Jo

    ReplyDelete
  10. No ripe 'maters here yet, but plenty of heat to bring them on.
    I love zinnias too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Another piece of good country lingo is, "The Devil is beating his wife," which is what some folks say, when the sun is shining and it's raining at the same time :) Strange saying!!
    Your garden looks good, and the veggies look very good, considering our awful weather this summer! Outrageous rain in June, and outrageous dry and heat in July :( I'm ready for fall, and I'd gladly lay the garden to rest if I could get it here, haha! Your sunflowers are lovely. Mine are not blooming yet!

    ReplyDelete
  12. The weather this year hasn't been exactly condusive to gardening, has it? I can't remember when we've been this late getting green beans from our garden. We just discovered today that there are some ready to be picked...enough for a mess. I love to can so I'm just waiting to be able to pick enough to can!

    Loved all your pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Never worry about too many photos . . . your place is so lovely and I know that I am not the only one that thinks so and loves seeing photos. My beans have slow down so today I pulled them all out and tomorrow I plan on planting a fall crop. I've never done this before, but I have the seed so why not give it a try. Zinnias are my favorite summer flower, mine are just starting to bloom. they are so cheerful and hold up so well in bouquets. Don't they just make you smile . . . they do me.
    In regard to the comment you left on my blog: Oh, Steve is on cloud nine and happy as a little pig in the mud. It's nice having him around too . . . we even have time to sit on the porch and have our morning coffee :) I think retirement is going to be a true blessing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love sunlight filtering through rain. Your photos of your lovely home is always a delight to see. Yes, a row of Zinnias always puts a smile on my dial. Your veggie garden produce looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  15. My mom used to say if it rains when the sun is shining, it will rain at the same time the next day. Now, I am wondering if it did. I am having a bad year with tomatoes. It has been one thing and then another...tomato horn worms, stink bugs.... But your "maters" surely look yummy! Some of the best people I've ever knew spoke in hillbilly slang. And, I surely did enjoy Willie's comments, especially on cutting flowers. I don't, except in unusual circumstances, like my giant sunflowers which were toppled by this week's storms.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Always good to see fresh produce from the garden. It's the best.

    ReplyDelete
  17. We get quite a few of those raining with the sun out days around here. Love when that happens.
    Too bad about the green beans this year but at least you got some. The zinnias are pretty and I love the sunflowers.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful pictures with the rain and the sun together! Your wonderful garden veggies are making me hungry!

    ReplyDelete
  19. You even manage to make sheds/barns look beautiful, great photographs; I have really enjoyed seeing your gardens. It is disappointing about your vegetables, especially after all the hard work which goes into growing and tending them. We are having unusually warm weather, so we've had a few failures this year, but then other things are happy. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Love visiting you here! Your photos are lovely-and I think your garden is wonderful! I would like a fence like that to keep our hoards of rabbits out. Your veggies are wonderful. Maybe you can use the husks of the corn-you can make all kinds of wonderful things-even slippers-with the husks. I know you are sad about not having good corn-all that work :( But so glad you got rain-we are getting it now up north here, and it's very needed!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I read a book where they remarked on that rain with the sun shining and called it "devil rain".

    Good grief, moving the furniture to vacuum underneath it is some serious vacuuming-----rarely happens around here.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Dear Henny we had the same kind of day - rain and sun at the same time. Did see a bit of rainbow. Always makes me smile. Like you my garden has been a sad one. We had so much rain early on and now terribly dry...not a great growing year. Always enjoy my visit here. Thanks to for stopping to see me. Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Please come over and clean my house. I don't wanna. LOL.
    I love the little garden! I have zinnias, too. Best best best.

    ReplyDelete
  24. How strange that rain with sunshine would be associated with the devil so much. I like Willie's saying about the monkey's birthday--- totally nonsensical but it makes you smile!
    Where oh where, do you get all that energy from? I wish you could pass some to me. Beautiful photos : )

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi Henny, no taste on the corn ….strange maybe you can find some neighbor cows or such that would enjoy it. The bowl of veggies looks wonderful though, I see salad fixins and some yellow squash sautéed with some sweet onions and some fresh tomatoes for a wonderful sandwich....nothing like fresh garden fare. Enjoy the summer fun! Lisa@ Sweet Tea N' Salty Air

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hi! You can come clean, vacuum dust and mop at my house too! Sorry about your corn. I wonder what made it turn out yucky? I always thought you could grow green beans easily too. Not in this courtyard. Last year none. This year I covered them a lot so they wouldn't get sun scald so was able to pick a few. When it is so hot I don't feel like gardening. I was just thinking I am feeling like fall but we still have August!! Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  27. Y'all have such a pretty country place there, it just radiates peace and quiet and sunshine! Love seeing pictures. So sorry the corn was a flop this year, sometimes that just happens I guess. Our "maters" didn't do too hot this year either. Guess all we can do is try and see what happens each year, right? Your flowers are so pretty!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I admire people who can grow so many beautiful flowers and food. I will one day have time to grow a proper garden and I'm going to give it a try. The sunflowers look so pretty.
    xx Beca

    ReplyDelete
  29. Your corn is pretty! Too bad it tastes bad. Your Zinnias and Sunflowers are so pretty! :)

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you. Thank you for your comment.