For whatever reason, I was wide-awake about an hour earlier than normal, so instead of trying to convince myself to go back to sleep, I slid out of bed and went about my normal morning routine and then headed off to my workplace.
Since I was a good hour ahead of myself, I spent all the more time reading our online news feeds, and since I’m not a subscriber to the Globe Gazette, about all I can read on that rag, are the obits, but I do pay attention to their headlines which pretty much gives me an idea what’s being reported. As far as I’m concerned, they’re very much lacking with in depth reporting on our local issues. I’ve also noticed they do what I call ‘re-skins’ of previous articles’ subject matter, and tweaked enough to make them look fresh.
This abortion business with our State government has really got out of hand, and mostly because I personally feel they’re entering territories where they have no right passing judgement, which brings me to the sharing of a heated debate I had with an elderly woman whom I thought the world of, but for some reason, she started verbally pounding on me one afternoon outside my office, and only because she ‘thought’ I was pro-abortion. Well, for whatever reason, I wouldn’t back down from her, and I think what finally cooled her jets, was my sternly saying to her, “If you recall scripture, Christ said, “Let he who is above sin, cast the first stone”, which as we all know, none of us are above sin, and if we were, we wouldn’t be here.” She softened a little after my statement, so I then proceeded to say, “It’s not that I’m pro-abortion or anti-abortion, because no matter how I personally feel about the subject, it makes no difference because I have no right to make any sort of judgement call on what a woman choses to do with her body, as it’s her own personal choice, and her’s alone.”
I know my words did hit a chord with her, but since she started it, all she could do was abruptly end the subject and wave me off. I didn’t hear from her for days on end, which had me believing she was determined I was Satan’s son for not jumping on her bandwagon. Well after about a month, she showed up at my office acting as though nothing had happened, which I was thankful for, because she really was a sweetheart. Unfortunately several months later she died in our local hospital from complications which arose out of a simple procedure. I was heartbroken, but at least we remained friends up until the end. Overall, she really was a good person, but for some reason, she’d turn into a vociferous radical whenever someone touched on abortion rights.
After my long news-reading session was over, I changed my clothes and headed out to spend as much time as possible, working in my yard and garden which were both in need of attention. For whatever reason, I’ve really been on a burn to keep the weeds at a minimum this year, and so far, it’s looking better than ever.
My first hours were spent going back over those rows of onions I weeded last week, just to get rid of the weeds I’d missed, and after that was accomplished, I turned to the two rows of carrots which were needing some light weeding and then thinning-out. To my delight, I pulled nearly a pound of half-sized carrots, just so the smaller ones would have room to grow. Oh how that took me back to years gone by, because that’s what we used to do instead of thinning them out when they were very small. It really makes sense when you think about it, because in the end, you get the same results, along with the bonus of having fresh carrots every week. I can’t wait to put them to use because I truly enjoy fresh organically-grown carrots.
My next weeding area, was where my bell peppers are planted, and now that they’re starting to bloom, I made sure there were no weeds hiding around their shaded lower areas. In spite of them being slower this year, they sure look exceptionally healthy since our recent rains, so if we don’t get an early frost, I should have more than enough to satisfy my needs until harvest time next year.
After I finished with my peppers, I went to my watermelon patch to check-up on their progress, and to my delight, both varieties are starting to blossom, so again, if we don’t have an early frost, I’ll be getting both red and yellow-fleshed watermelons. I was shocked to find those yellow watermelon seeds I’d saved for over seven years, actually germinating, so if they produce like they did before, I’ll be walking down a bitter-sweet lane while eating them, and the reason for the ‘bitter-sweet’, is because the last time I grew them, my mother was still alive, and since she enjoyed them so much, I made sure she’d get as much as I could provide.
Just as I was walking past my ancient hedge of wild currents, I happened to notice they had ripe berries on them which was a surprise because the birds normally get them long before I’d ever have a chance, but now that those current bushes have grown so tall and thick, there was enough left for me to pick, so I went and grabbed a bucket and started picking. After a good two hours, I ended up with two and a half pounds which I washed and then vacuum-wrapped before being sent to my freezer for future use. Tonight’s photo is of what I managed to pick.
I’m actually looking forward to making wild black current jam out of them, and only because I’ve often wondered what it tastes like. On rare occasions I’ve seen it in stores, but priced far out of my budget, so we’ll see what mine ends up tasking like.
While on the subject of currents, I have to mention that back when I was thru traveling Northern Europe with my dear sister, I found they sold current juice instead of orange juice, and once I had a taste of it, I was completely hooked on it. It’s really that good.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Love is the power to see similarity in the dissimilar.
