Quote of the Day: C.S. Lewis
“We live, in fact, in a world starved
for solitude, silence, and private:
and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.”
C.S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory)
One of the things I love about gardening is the solitude and silence. Gardening gives me time to think, time to unwind, time to contemplate and time to simply enjoy some peace and quiet.
What things help you find solitude and silence?
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So Long Ollie Bud
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)
Our good friends had to say goodbye to their little dog Ollie yesterday. It’s such a sad thing to have to make that decision when your pet becomes ill. It’s definitely one of the worst parts about having a pet. Ollie had his moments when his Jack Russell blood came through, he could be obstinate and annoying, but he was also energetic, loyal, and entertaining. No doubt after some time to grieve this loss, good memories of Ollie will fill the painful void left now that he’s gone. As C.S. Lewis writes above in his book about love, pain and loss; you can’t have joy without sorrow. When we open ourselves up to love by bringing people and pets into our lives we not only open ourselves up to great happiness and joy but also to the deepest sadness and pain as well. Here’s a tribute to our friend’s little dog Ollie, Lucy’s dearest friend.
So long Ollie, we’ll miss you sitting in front of the TV grumbling while we try to watch a movie, we’ll miss your excitement every time we came over to visit, we’ll miss you chasing the bean bags when we played corn hole, and of course we’ll miss you’re optimism that someone was always going to drop something delicious on the floor for you to eat!
Have you ever had to say goodbye to a pet?
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Quote of the Day: Amy Goldman
At the end of September, about two months after the appearance of the first vine-ripened homegrown tomato of summer the time has come to dismantle the garden before the cover crop is sown. Frost is coming: fermentation and decay are in the air. Plants have fallen down, top heavy, and many tomatoes look like sad sacks, flaccid and drained.
-Amy Goldman (The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit)
I’ve been clearing out some of my tomato vines. They’ve reached the end of their productive lives and they will make room for cover crops, and winter greens. I used to try to keep the tomatoes going until frost, but I have found that I’d rather have fresh spinach in February than a few extra tomatoes in October.
I still have a few tomatoes that are going strong, most of them were seeded later in the spring. Among them are some tiny yellow cherries, a ‘Lemon Boy’ tomato, a ‘White Beauty’, a few ‘Goldman Italian Americans’, and a few ‘Principe Borghese’ tomato plants.
My ‘Winter Keepers’ are coming into their own as this is their time to shine. I’m hoping that these will last well into the winter on shelves in the basement as the name implies. My mom is growing some ‘Long Keepers’ and they look exactly like my ‘Winter Keepers’.
When do you clear out your tomato plants? Do you keep them going until frost?
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Any Suggestions?
This fall, Mr Chiots and I are planning a trip up through New England. We’re hoping to take in all the wonderful scenery, spend some time hiking, enjoy some delicious local food, see some interesting local things and of course visit LLBean, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, and King Arthur Flour. When we go on vacations like these we usually tent camp and enjoy the quiet simplicity of that kind of vacation. Sitting by the fire in the evening, waking up with the sun, enjoying a relaxing time sans technology.
We were talking about things we wanted to do and thought perhaps opening it up to you for suggestions would be a great idea. No doubt some of you live in New England and some of you have traveled there and discovered wonderful little treasures that we wouldn’t want to miss. We don’t have a specific route picked yet, so any suggestions you make are a possibility. I was hoping to visit Elliot Coleman’s farm stand, but it’s closed at the end of Sept, so no such luck at getting some of his delicious produce, perhaps at a local grocery store. Maybe I’ll visit anyways to take a few photos of his winter garden.
So any suggestions of things to do, places to visit, must see things or local eateries that we must make time for on our trip?
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Quote of the Day: John Ruskin
“There is no wealth but life.”
~ John Ruskin
