Saturday: Today on our way home, two things heralded the coming end of summer. Pearsons Peach Shed put up a "Closed for the Season" placard on their main road sign. No more local peaches for us! I had stopped just yesterday by the truck farmer's stand here in my town because I saw he had a few baskets, but I'd noted that he had had two cases and only one of them had any peaches left. I realized that it was likely the last we'd have this year. I picked up a basket from him.
The other sign was along the creek banks on the highway that leads up to our road. Goldenrod was blooming!
And now, I must stop and look at what is left of summer and ask myself: "What have I missed this year?" For me, it's usually about the foods I associate with a season that I think of first. What have I missed eating this summer? Lemon Pie. I haven't made a lemon pie. But I have had tomato sandwiches, BLT's, green beans, squash, fresh corn on the cob, fried green tomatoes, peaches, peach cobbler, peach muffins, peaches on peanut butter toast and tossed into cereal. I suppose missing out on lemon pie is little enough to miss out upon. I got some of most of the essentials. So foodwise I think I am good.
Then there are experiences. I tried hard to get flowers and vegetables and herbs to grow for me. No luck really. I had one or two rather straggly looking bouquets. There was one flush of blooms on the Hydrangea that literally covered it and then nothing more. I think that was my fault. I may have pruned the spent blooms off in the wrong manner. No vegetables grew and herbs struggled.
John and I didn't get a single day trip or picnic out of the summer.
I didn't take a moment to turn on the sprinkler and enjoy the medley of hot sun and cold water, but Caleb spent a happy afternoon dashing about in the sprinkler here. And I enjoyed watching him have fun probably far more than I would have enjoyed it myself.
But I did manage at the last week before school started up to get the trio of kids off to the peach shed to have fresh peach ice cream. That's a summer memory I very much want to share with my grandchildren, at least those that are not lactose intolerant!
I have taken time to watch the fireflies sparkling in the early evening light and listened attentively to the drone of the cicadas. I have sat on the porch and admired the sparkling new day and stopped in the evening to hear the softer whirr of the crickets when the cicadas fell silent. Thanks to keeping Caleb this summer, I was able to get outdoors each day and appreciate the songbirds, the bugs, the heat and the cool.
So, I'll say no regrets for this summer. It's been a good one. I took time to appreciate all that it had to offer up. And I'm grateful for every bit of it.
I am tired. I've worked hard at this #everybitcounts challenge this year. Here we are nearly halfway through and I'm wondering if I can possibly go two weeks longer. Money is dwindling, jars are dwindling. But I can do something more I am sure, and I plan to try to go all the way to the last day of the month. This month I am not about overspending but I'm willing to spend a little extra if it will fill gaps that we have in our household.
I told a friend of mine that I had been busy as a squirrel and I truly have been. She replied that she remembered when people used to always do as I was doing this month. "They used to say they were preparing for winter." My reply was that this was the way in which I grew up. Mama gardened and we froze and canned and preserved all we could each year. It was always a busy time of year. I still recall thinking the bowing shelves in the pantry were the loveliest thing and to open the deep freezer and see the hundreds of bags of vegetables and fruits that we'd preserved for the freezer used to make me feel a deep sense of satisfaction. There was something wonderful about opening a jar of blackberry jam in February when we were longing for winter's end and spreading it on a hot buttered biscuit that brought a brief but keen memory of summer to our senses.
I'm not focusing on seasonal produce, at least not yet since I didn't garden and I don't have ready access to too much fresh produce in my local area, but it's felt good to watch the empty spaces on my shelves fill up with what I have 'put by'. I'm used items that have been sitting in my freezer with the intent to use them. Then I fill the empty spaces left behind in the freezer with fresh items that will serve us well in the coming months.
It's been work, all of it, but it most definitely is satisfying. And I hope in the seasons ahead I shall remember to try to keep putting things up for the seasons ahead.
Sunday: I feel like we've just rushed our way through the whole day. We hurried about this morning to get breakfast and dressed prior to church. Hurried to church. Hurried from church to get through the second business meeting this month. Hurried from the meeting to Katie's where Katie hurried to cut John's hair and then we all hurriedly ate as the family was all slated to be leaving shortly. Bella's mom was coming to pick her up. Katie had to take Taylor back to her dad's. Cody was taking Caleb to a birthday party. It was go, go, go, and rush, rush, rush.
The kids were fine but as I said, it was a hurried visit. Bella's mom arrived to pick her up just as she finished eating. Katie hurried to get her changed and her hair fixed. Taylor was packing her bags. Henry was upset because I set him down in his play pen to get him out of harm's way. Cody, who makes my slow eating look like an army chow hall veteran job, was trying to finish his meal. Caleb was everywhere underfoot and John, God bless him, was oblivious to it all and just talking away, lol.
Caleb asked me to come to his room to see the newly added items. He has a bedside lamp but more importantly, he has a soft chair that is pulled front and center in his room in front of the tv...and he has his own remote that he keeps on the arm of his chair. He sat down proudly and showed me how he holds the remote...My word, he's spent too much time with his Grampa!!
I had constant little jabs of anxiety that continued to build up and last longer the further the day went along. I am not sure if it was the hurry and bustle, or if it's related to the pain I'm experiencing. I hurt my back, and it has moved into the right side of my body around the rib cage. Pretty sure it's due to being foolish and lifting heavy canners when I could easily have asked John to come help, but I do find more and more that I am fairly intolerant of ibuprofen or naproxen.
Never mind. I relaxed for a bit when we got home and then I went off to the kitchen to make a meal for our supper. While things were getting started, I managed to bag up the sausage I purchased on Friday, and I arranged the flowers I'd purchased on Friday of the same day.
I have pushed to get housework done but cannot deny the need to tackle the house tomorrow with a good hard home blessing. I am done rushing. I am going to pick up the next book in my stack, which I started the other day, Miss Read's The Howards of Caxley. I have pulled out the markers and coloring books once more. We have a favorite vlogger we watch only on Sunday evenings. It's time to relax and calm down once more. Work will wait until tomorrow. Hurry belongs to the morning, not the evening. It's been a beautiful summer weekend.
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