We arrived in Puerto Rico late on a Monday night to the most intoxicating chirping and tropical song. Luke and I both thought they were surely piping in the sound of large birds, for the trees around the entire resort were alive with sound – loud sound.
El Coqui.
Luke and I were wrong. The sound, we were told, were the male tree frogs calling out, wooing the females, from sun-down to sun-up. The Coqui (which means “little frog”) got its’ name from the sound it makes: ko-kee’, a sort-of whistle or chirp. There must have been thousands of them there. They lullaby’ed me all night long.
A tender green, thinly-sliced, baby zucchini; thick slabs of lemon-yellow cucumber and a blood-red tomato, with saltshaker handy; sweet corn slathered in real butter and sprinkled with cajun seasoning: this is a cool summer supper for a hot summer day.
Your tastebuds should be tingling. Seriously. The garden is kissing me back.
Our backyard is a veritable toad-city, the pond providing a natural pool for an occasional toad swim and all the shade and garden nooks and crannies for dwelling. It might at times be almost plague-like, if you don’t like toads, but we appreciate how they dine on unwanted bug life.
The Godfather.
But the biggest toad of all, the Godfather Toad, if you will, is gone. That toad had to be weighing in at 10 ounces, for sure. I mean, he must have really been packing away the mosquito larvae. He was huge and he was a governing presence. But he flew too close to the sun, attempting to stay hidden in tall grass…the same grass Dave was mowing.
He will be missed.
The garden is a little less welcoming now. The mosquitos bzzzzzssszzzz in temporary victory. The little toads wonder what the future holds, watching for the next time the loud green machine will come rolling out like thunder. For the Godfather is gone. He is dead. No more Mr. Big Toad.
“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.” ~Paul Cezanne
Hunter hung out with me in the garden one morning recently. He harvested carrots from the back 40 (feet…not acres). Then we made a bouquet so we could enjoy the beauty of them as well as the taste.
“Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy…”
From William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 33
Update on Life.
It is a Monday, a glorious, beautiful Monday morning. Heaven Fest is 5 days away. Robbin and Jake’s wedding on Saturday was a delightful and joyful event, going off without a hitch. There will surely be facebook pics posted soon, somewhere?…
My friend Pearl’s dad died Friday. He had been ill for some time, but it is still never easy. I only met him once or twice, but I know him through the big, loving family he raised, through his daughter, who is a woman to be praised. He is whole now, and with the Lord, he has gained life.
The Great Outdoors.
Last week’s late afternoon or nighttime thunder showers have saturated our yard to a new level of green, it being August in the arid-Rocky-Mountain-region, and all. Dave mowed and trimmed yesterday and I have spent the morning enjoying the bird-song, the gentle breeze and my time with the Lover of my soul, pulling a weed or two, harvesting a few tomatoes (leftover quesadilla with thick, juicy slices of red goodness for breakfast) and an armful of beets (to be roasted for dinner…I will try to enjoy them). The upside-down tomato, now in its’ place for about 5 1/2 weeks is boasting 5 little spheres of future deliciousness.
Dwight Schrute on The Office: “First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go “Wow, I need this beet right now.” Those are the money beets.”
I’m reading a provocative and poetic book.
From Eternity to Here – Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God by Frank Viola. I started before family reunion and am just entering part two (about halfway through). It is so good. I have so little time, but I am enjoying it thoroughly everytime I open it. Fresh revelation. Resonating reminders. Goooooooood stuff. Join me?
Lush, green, and verdant – that is what these afternoon or early evening thunder-showers are giving us. Usually quite dry and yellow by this time of year, except for the places we must saturate regularly, Colorado is having one of the greenest summers.
And while the mountains stand tall and strong and speak to us of victory and grandeur as we long so very often for the exhileration of the mountaintop experience, a walk across the cool, wet grass this morning, breathing in the heavy, moist air reminded me that the ” valley experience” is so good for my soul.
Song of Solomon 6.11 “I went down to the garden…to see the verdure of the valley, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranites has bloomed…”
or
“Je suis descendue au jardin des noyers, Pour voir la verdure de la vallée, Pour voir si la vigne pousse, Si les grenadiers fleurissent.” (Sometimes the Bible just sounds so good in a different language, thank-you www.biblegateway.com!)
I love the mountain top. But I live in the valley, where “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul” (Ps 23).
How green is my valley…J
BTW – several translations of the verse I referenced from the Song of Solomon actually say, “I went down to the garden of nuts…” And that is where I live, too, among a bunch of nuts!
Over the weekend I looked around the yard at the wildly blooming lilies and pots full of colorful flowers. I was happy to have harvested 5 more tomatoes along with lettuce, sugar snap peas and green beans. The cukes were blooming their heads off and vining with big, full leaves; the zucchini and summer squash just birthing the first, small fruit.
I was thinking: nice.Everything is in bloom and green and enjoyable with so little work from me right now. All is well. All is as it should be.
Loud tornado warning sirens and unexpected gusts of wind last night night changed all of that. Two storms blew through with hail and torrential rain from 11 pm until the early hours this morning.
Very suddenly, things have changed. Without warning there has been loss. I looked around at the wreckage early this morning and I see that some things are gone. Flowers petals were beat from their stems and litter the ground with green leaves. Shrubs are flattened, but given time will likely pull themselves back up by their bootstraps. But there is loss. Some damage is too severe. Some things will never recover.
Pictured above: the mowed-over hollyhocks, the battered elephant’s ear; I think the onions gave their lives for this volunteer marigold which is seemingly unscathed; and the pummeled lemon cucumbers. Sad.
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Hab. 3.17, 18
Some peppers plants are finished now, leafless. But they provided protection to the plants to their right. Dave’s mammoth grill gave some covering for some of the tomato plants and the herbs held up pretty well. The things that will survive will be all the more treasured now, with greater gratefulness.
July 15, 2009, yesterday, there they were: two small, red, Oregon Spring tomatoes. I was feeding the straw bales and they just appeared.
I wasn’t expecting anything from that tomato plant because it seems to have stayed so small, stocky, but compact. However, upon re-reading the tag that came with it this morning, I see that it is quite determinate and needs no staking, but produces mature fruit within 60 days (it has been in the straw bale for about 6 weeks, so, of course). So heads up for you patio gardeners: Oregon Spring= good choice.
But anyway, my point? I have bacon in the fridge and two lovely tomatoes on my counter. It is a sign from God that I can go on.
In other tomato news:
The upside-down tomato thing/project/experiment I am trying is going ok, I think. The plant is definitely growing and seems, actually to be thriving in its’ protected locale. Pictured above: the night it was first placed and then the two-week picture from last week (today would be three weeks, no picture yet). I noticed yesterday it has a good little bunch of flowers, aka future tomatoes, on it. I just have to remember to water it. Geesh. (That is a Roma and a tomatillo residing below in straw)
Misc. Garden Updates:
Some nasty worms have descended upon and are chowing down on all my petunia buds leaving quite the trail of poo-poo behind, yet I cannot find and destroy them. Grrrrrr…..And the sugar snaps are keeping me snacking daily for the past two weeks. Not enough to share yet. ; )
Playing in dirt is good for the soul…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Check the carrots and discipline the cukes.
If you love roasted red peppers, if you enjoy them on chimichangas or like to make roasted red pepper soup, if you like them in or on anything, crave the savory sweetness they add to a meal, then you will mourn with me the fact that I cannot find a local vendor for my canned red peppers anymore.
I used to buy them at King Soopers for $6.99. Yes. Only $6.99 for a 5-pound 8-ounce can which held an average of 36 roasted red peppers. About a year and a half ago, during one of their ridiculous re-arrangements, they discontinued them.
I figured I’d find them somewhere, but alas, I have not.
I have checked all the major grocers as well as disounters like Big Lots. I have even ventured into Asian markets and scoured the Mexican Carnicerias. I had such hopes when Rancho Liberio started sending me their ads. But to no avail.
Sure, I can order the peppers from an online source. But it is quite a lot more expensive, and naturally, the shipping is exhorbitant.
They are a product of Spain and I miss them so. The Roland Food Company is an importer of such deliciousness. Can anyone tell me where I can get them now? Product #45630. UPC# 0 41224 45630 3
Sprinkle some seeds into a flat round planter base (made to place under a large pot) that has had a few small holes drilled into it and been filled with some lightweight potting soil. Grass emerges in a few days and must be ” mowed” about weekly. Lovely to run your fingers through on a summer evening whilst you sip lemonade.
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