Since I missed yesterday’s post and didn’t have anything scheduled for tomorrow, I thought I’d combine the two with a little talk about the garden and accompanying photos. I took the photos another morning this month but a little later in the morning, not the one I’m telling about here.
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Pride of Barbados
This time of year in the Texas Hill Country the best time of day is early in the morning before the sun comes up and just after. The air is still cool then and if there’s a breeze at all it’s almost intoxicating compared to the heat of the afternoons. There’s a good reason why people compare good news or events to “a breath of fresh air”! It puts something into you that it’s hard to get otherwise. Plus, since we’ve had more rain this year (thank the Lord!!), it’s still quite green out there, and the garden is bursting. Our little spot here is so pretty that sometimes I think it’s like some pretty camp ground or “in the rough” park. It’s hard for me to get inspired to go sleep in a tent when our own yard is so lovely right outside my own bedroom. :-)
Yesterday morning I just couldn’t stay in bed knowing all that good fresh air was going to waste, and since I couldn’t sleep any more anyway for various reasons, I got up. I opened a couple windows and turned on a fan at the opposite end of the house to get as much of that goodness inside as I could before it was gone. Then I went out to work in the garden.
It’s so peaceful at that hour. My fan was maybe the only “noise pollution” I could hear. :-) The birds were singing, a rooster crowing in the distance, maybe a peacock calling – it was all very idyllic and pastoral. On mornings like that I think we get a little taste of how God meant this world to be, don’t you? Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
I went to the garden for the purpose of picking yellow beans which my dad had told me were ready to pick. At first I couldn’t find the plants. He has planted things very crowded this year to help conserve water. I think it’s working, but I’m not sure how we’re going to pick some of the stuff when it’s ready! It’s a challenge now, but it’ll be a regular jungle when the plants are all grown.
I saw a butterfly that I think was just newly out of it’s chrysalis. It may have been a day or two old, but the wings looked so bright and fresh to me that I think it was a brand new one. I wished I’d taken my camera, but I was trying to focus on the work that morning (no pun intended), so I didn’t get any pictures. :-)
I wished for it again shortly. I heard something in the woods, but I didn’t see it so I wandered down to the end of the garden past Daddy’s gigantic non-GMO corn. There I heard something else up toward the property line and saw an animal come leaping down toward where I was, but it was on the lower side of the fence. (Our property has a fence around it and across it so that we can keep the donkeys on the lower property away from the houses.) It turned out to be a fawn and it stopped and looked all around for a few moments so I got to really enjoy it. I stood very still! One of the dogs saw it and came running, but thankfully she can’t get through the fence there. The fawn is much safer from the dogs on the lower side of the fence because the donkeys hate the dog and won’t let her chase the deer. If she goes down there, she gets chased herself. :-)
I ended up picking some sweet potato leaves for our dinner and a few peppers that were ripe. Then I looked around a bit more and finally found the yellow beans. I didn’t know how many there would be so I went and got a basket to pick them into since my colander was partially full by then. It wasn’t a lot, but I got some good stretching and squats in trying not to step on all the plants around the beans. I’d rather get them that way than doing my exercises. Ha. ;-)
I also watered a couple flower beds while I was out and at the end swept the steps and sidewalk. Before I went in Mom showed up and we had a nice natter. We “solved” a few problems and enjoyed the fresh air and breeze. :-) It was lovely.
This weather won’t last much longer. Early mornings won’t be this cool before too long, so I want to drink them in as much as I can before they end. Some years they end earlier than this, so I’m extra thankful to the Lord that we’re still having it now. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below…”
Come and look.
Aji Dulce peppers
They look and taste like habaneros, but with very little heat!
Squash blossom
South Indies cucumber blossom.
Isn’t this an amazing flower? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.
An added bonus of getting out early is that there are some blossoms in the garden that will wilt when the day heats up.
Noodle beans
Yes, they really are that long.
I picked these another day.
Noodle bean blossom
