Bounty

I do love me some summer.

Not because of the temperatures or the skeeters or the humidity, mind you, but because of the freshness and plentiferousness of the food available. Oh my word, it is a good time of year.

Tonight we had campfire suppers. I took sheets of aluminum foil and sprayed them with nonstick spray. Then I sliced potatoes and onions and put them in the center of each. I added two slices of cheese, a hunk o' hamburger to the top, a handful of carrots, and seasoned it all. I set the oven at 400 degrees, folded the foil packets closed, and set them in the oven to bake for an hour.

And then...

I sliced fresh tomatoes (NOT from my plants - not yet), and then peeled and sliced fresh cucumbers. The tomatoes were great naked. But the cucumbers needed a little something. So I took sour cream and vinegar and mixed it together with some salt and pepper, then stirred the cucumbers into it.

Oh, be still my heart...

We also have fresh corn, but I'm saving it for another day. I've been able to get it every week at the market so far. Tomorrow I'm picking up six dozen ears to freeze, but since we have limited room in the freezer I plan to give a couple of them to Sis. Green beans are still too expensive to buy unless I go to the City Market, so I'll wait on those.

More and more I appreciate the effort Mom put into raising her garden every year for the benefit of her children and grandchildren. More and more I appreciate the hours and hours she spent planting, fertilizing, watering, weeding, harvesting and giving us this gift of love.

I had been wishing so much that I had one more tomato from her garden, if only to save the seeds and plant them in my own garden next year. But Hubster and The Boy had torn up all the plants when they cleaned up the garden last year. I resigned myself to having that part, along with so many other parts of her life, gone. Her things, her house...HER.

Sis and I were over at the house last Saturday for what has become our weekly ritual. We meet, drink coffee and pretend to do something for a couple of hours. It gives us an excuse to be together, and it gives us a chance to gradually say goodbye to the house.

Last Saturday we decided to clean out the shed in the garden. Sis got the key and we walked in the back yard up the hill we both loved to roll down when we were kids. We noted the plants we wanted to get starts from, where the maple tree used to be, where the swing set was. We went through the gate into the garden, and something caught the corner of my eye. I turned around, then walked over to where it was to be sure.

There, in the middle of the garden next to the pile of old tomato plants from last year, was a lone plant.

A tomato plant. In full bloom.