Green Bean Pickin'

My harvest is quite small, as I only dedicated two squares of my square-foot garden to green beans. However, it's just enough for the two of us, and I bring in a good bunch of beans each evening.

Tonight I blanched what I had and filled a few bags for the freezer. Sitting with that bowl of beans in my lap and snipping off the ends brought back memories of my younger years. That was my favorite gardening job, and often a family affair.

Now I'm looking forward to those fresher-tasting beans when my garden is done for the season.

The Back Roads of Pennsylvania

It started out as a trip just across the border into PA to pick up some locally processed bacon and cheddar cheese. I suggested we take along the cooler just in case we wanted to drive on somewhere else, and that was a good thing, as we were gone all afternoon and into evening.

From Gillett, we drove west on Route 6, heading to Wellsboro. That's a pretty drive and a familiar route for us. It was so hot, I almost dozed off on the way (don't worry, George was driving). We made a stop in Mansfield for ice cream and checked out two antique stores across the street.

On to Wellsboro, where the temperature was 95 when we passed through. George wanted to drive some back roads that we had been on before, but this time with our GPS. It had been a little unnerving before to be winding around the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon without a clue where we were.

Secluded roadways break open to the rolling hillside.....


and unexpected beautiful vistas......

We eventually wound our way out of the canyon, and headed back towards Wellsboro, where the temperature at 7 p.m. was still pretty high, though dark clouds and rain were headed our way.


We had dinner at the Wellsboro Diner, finding ourselves the subject of many photographers on the street as we sat and ate our dinner. I decided to get a photo myself when the traffic cleared.

The skies opened up as we headed north out of town, and menacing skies followed us all the way home, till the final stretch......


A beautiful ending to our summer day.

One Year of Postcards

It was just a year ago that I joined Postcrossing, and sent out my first postcard. At that time there were 113,000 members. A year later, I have sent out 175 postcards with 160 received. Currently there are 195,000 members.

It has been great fun. Wherever we go, I try to pick up some postcards, and I have found them in many places....coffee shops, produce stands, wineries, grocery stores, and the normal tourist locations. Even better is checking the mailbox each afternoon to see what postcards have come. I have sent to 37 countries, and received from 32.

These are just a few of the recent ones -

from Eija in Finland....


from Lensku in Finland....


from Andrea in Taiwan....


from Nathan in Canada.....


and this whimsical one from China.....


I try to write some little personal note on each one, and I especially enjoy it when a sender has done the same. I'm looking forward to year two!

Clean-up Crew

Having feeders around the yard, there is always some spilled seed. Sometimes it's my spill, but more often than not, it's the crowd at the feeders.

There is always a willing clean-up crew....most recently it's the little song sparrow down below, and Chipper takes care of the upper deck.

Compost Creeper

We feed the compost pile at least weekly, but it only gets a good turnover every so often. I bought a compost hook a few months ago, but it could get used more often.

This is what happens when the pile is left to its own devices. It starts its own garden, shooting out vines through the wire.

I have no idea what is growing, and there are no blossoms yet, but it looks like there soon will be. Morgan asked me if we would actually eat something that grew out of the heap. Most definitely, if it's edible!

Blooms

Starting over here on Blogger....

I've been taking pictures of the blooms around the yard. It always cheers me in the winter to look back at them and remember these bright, warm, sunny days.