Cousin Gus hosted his annual barbeque cookout for Independence Day. For the first time in my memory, the blessing of the food (and the cooks and the country) did not occur at straight-up noon. When we arrived at 11:45, his wife was striding across the yard to the farm shop, where the grilling had occurred. As we were unloading our contributions to the meal, Mrs. Gus came back, announcing, "He was in there ASLEEP!" (He'd been up most of the night.) He came right behind her with a tray of foil-wrapped meat. The Husband and I put down our stuff, washed our hands, and helped pull the shoulders. If you have never had pulled pork shoulder hot off the grill, you are missing something. By the time the shredding job was done, we were about full.
The crowd was thin this year. New baby in one family, other folks out of town. Nanny was in the hospital, waiting to be released, having been admitted two days earlier with a touch of pneumonia. The Husband and his sister left to retrieve her as soon as they'd eaten. Although we were not hungry at supper time, we still had our margarita night with the Brother- and Sister-in-Law. No entrees, just cheese dip and margaritas.
Saturday, I cajoled The Husband into helping me carpet the un-planted parts of the garden with landscape fabric. When we finished, I came home and did some weed-eating. Sunday, I worked in the yard, picking up sticks and pulling weeds, then I started some seeds - cucumbers, squash, and zucchini - for late summer crops, either in the community garden or in my own garden. I need to get some broccoli and cabbages started soon.
Yesterday was errand day. When I finally got home and put everything away, I fired up the limb grinder and chipped up a load of sticks I'd picked up from the yard earlier in the week and then scrubbed some grubby lawn chairs. My backyard activities have been regularly documented by the bird feeder camera. This morning, it caught me in the backyard in my nightgown, wearing The Husband's shoes (they were closest to the door), when I went out to dump something on the compost pile. I am not sure I like this. Heaven only knows where those pictures are stored for posterity.
Today I had lunch with my Old Boss. Afterward, I dropped by the community garden. The purple hull peas are beginning to bloom. I pulled weeds from the walkway surrounding my plot, and eyeballed the empty plots, trying to decide if I really want to take on another job. If I do, it needs to be something that will produce QUANTITIES of food. I thought about okra, but I live 15 miles from the community garden, and okra needs to be cut about every other day, once it gets going; I don't want that obligation. I could plant another round of peas, but one 10' x 10' plot of unshelled peas might feed one family one or two meals, and that's not very productive.
My afternoon gardening plans just got put on hold by rain. I'm not all that upset about it. ;)
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