The calm before the storm...

Fun Happy Valley happenings have been at a minimum for the last week or so, which allows me to post some long waiting garden pictures. I had to do it now-before the storm hits. Monday was the beginning of three very exciting and photo-worthy weeks-so NOW or never.

Our company since Monday has only recently left for the last leg of their journey-and the last five hours of being together as a family for another five weeks. Mother and children will board a plane bound for England while the Father stays here in the States on business. Three weeks of pure togetherness-induced bliss before five of being apart. Bittersweet.

But~ what three weeks they were! You wouldn't believe all the amazing things they fit into three short weeks of holiday. Their children have seen MORE sights in these weeks than many have seen in a lifetime! They have certainly taught ME a few things about finding wonderful places to visit-even in my OWN area!

Within a few days, I will post pictures from their visit-including a visit to Willy Wonka's competition. AFTER the dust settles but BEFORE the newest wave rolls in on the heels of Saturday's church picnic here. Pre-visit I completed another batch of zucchini relish and got my scrapbooking pages into an album. Post-visit I want to sew a shirt for myself and get this weekend party planning into the planning and acting phases. But I digress...

Following are some garden photos. Treasures are few and far between this year, but there none-the-less. I am VERY disappointed in my garden this year. Out of an entire packet of seeds plus FOUR greenhouse-bought plants only TWO zucchini plants are producing for me. This has been enough to do some zucchini relish but not nearly as much as I would have liked to do. The brussel sprouts were eaten-but one. The lettuce and spinach never came up-but one. The corn tassled out at two feet. The pepper plants, though plenty, are still only a foot high and hardly any bells are even VISIBLE. We will have plenty of hots. And the tomatoes-well, the tomatoes. They are funny. I planted twice as many as I would have liked. Half died and only HALF of THOSE thrived. So-ironically, I have fewer tomatoes than I had HOPED for, even planting twice as many as I had generously planned for. The ones planted near the edges of the garden are hardy but the ones in the middle perished rather quickly. I don't even know if I will be able to do ANY canning this year from my own garden. I might have to utilize the Amish farms tomatoes for our salsas. And I REALLY wanted to try spagetti and marinara sauce too.

Overall, a VERY disappointing year. I keep reminding myself that not much could be done. Moving and being postpardum during growing season isn't exactly conducive to gardening. I should be thankful for any harvest at all-and I am. But. I hope to have a much better year next year. We planted some pumpkins for the first time this year-and day by day they are preparing themselves for their grand entrance into Autumn.

Those are my garden thoughts for today. So uplifting and POSITIVE! :-)