Summer is over ... tomatoes time!

Today is September first and where did the summer go? I look back on road trips now to Lincoln, Colorado, Idaho, Montana ND, SD and MO.... we saw the geysers again and some new ones like the Grand prismatic spring which is GRAND that I hope to show you this fall on my blog. And I loved being in Bismarck, ND my birthtown, on the fourth of July seeing the fireworks above the capital from our window...that was GRAND for me.

(I never lived there but my grandparents did..... my dad was at Annual Conference then and mom came to give birth to me in a larger town than Langdon near the Canadian border his first pastorate in ND with Cavalier near the Peace Garden.)

We enjoyed Bozeman for the first time and staying a few day with Jeremy doing research there, Glacier, lakes up north like Flathead and Whitefish (reminding me of days at Whiteshell lake in Canada as a kid), Butte and Helena in the rain and the many varied colors of Montana where I also briefly visited an elementary school friend from Minot and Dakota days in Missoula!

We only had lunch together in the backyard of their home in between their trips and our places to go but the homemade bread and jelly with homemade foods mixed with the stories and photos into a lunch together that reconnected us.... and what has happened to the kids in my class where I left after 6th grade at the Minot school on Minot State Teacher College and what is happpening in our lives today.

We saw friends and family this summer which are always good for the soul and the Tetons from the backside, Flaming Gorge on our Anniversary with Bear Lake in Idaho rather than the BEAR LAKE, CO we love in Rocky Mountain Park (and our first raspberry milkshake..... guess the bears like them too.) We heard music in the car to travel by and Gillian Welch in August at the Rococo Theater to reflect with now.... and into fall... the blues and bluegrass for my soul.

The Beartooth Mountains were a surprise for us as a new way to get to Yellowstone that Jeremy showed us, Deerlodge and all the while we were gone tripping, my neighbors were watering my plants and garden so we can share them now!

Because they did water and help us out, now we can also make salsa from my sister's recipe and create foods each day with fresh tomatoes, onions and peppers (and a bit oilatro not from my garden) Of course there was also my germans from russia kuchen baking experience inspired by kuchen from ND we found in Wishek, ND this time. It was also a yummy memory from my childhood which I am glad I can now try to replicate when I get hunger for it. I think I needed to have my sister try it first to get me going...... and finding recipes took us a few years as they are rather sketchy in my recipe box.

I hope you can find a good farmer's market like my sister and I found in MO or I found in Evergeen or someone with a garden or the melon stand at St libory, NE.... before it gets too cool again and they close down ( which we need to do soon ) and the sweet corn is about gone.

I hope you have taken in the summer sights, sounds and waterings like I have in my new "work in progress" garden along with the chiggers and mosquitos, cobwebs now and WEEDS.... (which has a long way to go by the way) as I have a chair now to sit and think/read too.

Or I hope you can enjoy photos from the summer or a good book on new places or familiar places, or on growing things.... or find one to read this fall and winter!

A good read outloud too is Barbara Kingslover's new non- fiction book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle....." which our family is reading and enjoying with the movie KING CORN and corn syrup in everything. (they have a website by the way)

And I HOPE I can try something new this fall now like I did this summer in my garden. It is truly just started as it was too hot here this summer to be out too long in the heat/humidity of NE (love that dry air out WEST) I hope the cooler fall days are more welcoming now for going out to dig, find some rhubarb plants to get in the dirt, and plant again with maybe some moving of irises and finding some tulips or daffodils ... and mulch. Good old mulch has become my best friend.

And I am off now to water a few things and check it out!! Happy fall as we think about summer yet and reflect on the trips and growing things in our lives and gardens! And I am excited to check out the gardens in CO and CA again this fall too! Our tropical mangoes plants from CA as Jay's father's day gift are growing too! That is another story another day on my blog this winter to go with the chapter on asparagus in Barb's book!

Happy fall and watering, growing, reflecting and trying some new things! And thanks for the memories, for the friends along the way, roadtrips and the new gardens in our lives!