Of rivers and gardens

First, a note from last week. Thank you to all the friends who sent me pictures of their candles, and to those of you who lit candles. It meant a lot to me, and I think it meant a lot to his family. I lit a candle in my hotel room in Minneapolis, and spent part of a day at the Cathedral of St. Paul.
     I also tried to spend time at the Mississippi River, but that turned out to be more difficult than I expected. Large swaths of land around the river are set aside by the National Park Service, so I thought I'd just wander down to one of the green areas of the map and sit by the river a while. But at one park a railyard separated me and the river, and another set of directions took me to a manufacturing plant, rather than a park. I could see the river from the third park, but only from a high bluff. I hiked down o a bike path, but was always separated by at least fifty feet of dense trees. I didn't dare climb through the thick underbrush because I've had way too many ticks in the last year. So, in the end, this is as close as I got.

After I returned from my long work week in Minnesota, I had two days at home. I've been madly trying to whip the garden into shape before I leave again. August is the time of reckoning for this gardener. It's when I discover that I really didn't choose the best strain of tomatoes, and they're all suffering from blight. The eggplants (in the right-hand bowl) weren't harvested early enough, which is why they turned yellow and a bit seedy. The watermelon plant looks dead, because all the leaves have dried up, but the watermelons still taste lovely.

And yet, not all is lost. I made pesto and cooked green beans, and this evening I got together with friends and we planned our fall gardens. That meant that we were trading seeds and placing a shared order for seeds online. When I get back next week from my Ohio trip, it will be time to plant again. I don't know what I shall do with all the free time I'll have in the winter...