Day 582

Something sad - yet inevitable - happened in the vegetable garden in the wee hours of the morning.

The chard wilted. The cucumber and zucchini leaves turned brown. The pepper leaves curled. The tops of the tomato plants became black.

It frosted last night. The days of picking my juice from the veggie garden look to be about over. (Thank goodness the kale and carrots are hearty.)

But also thank goodness for fall, a season of pretty colors. Today's example is the neighbor's vine that creeps over, and sometimes through, our fence.

Day 581

Over the last few days I've been hitting the bottle hard. The juice bottle, that is.

Each day I have:

• 2 bunches kale
• 1 bunch celery
• 1 pound carrots
• 1 cucumber
• 1 zucchini
• 4 leaves chard
• 3 peppers
• 1 portion lemon
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1 beet
• 2 apples
• 1 pear

All in a liquid format, all made in my juicer fresh each day. That's a lot of juice!

I am avoiding processed foods, sugar, salt, and fats, all with the hope that my pain and fatigue will abate. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm expecting it will soon.

I did have something at dinner tonight that is on my not-to-eat list but I couldn't resist. One of the grocery stores we shop at has this garlic bread that has whole cloves of garlic baked right into it. When you add some butter and Parmesan cheese and pop it in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up the edges it's about the tastiest thing you'd ever eat. Just look at those garlic cloves!

Day 580

Darn the Jackson 5.

You know how you get a song stuck in your head and it sticks with you the whole day? I have one of those songs that pops up a lot.

A B C
It's easy as, 1 2 3
As simple as, do re mi
A B C, 1 2 3

It popped up when I was taking today's pictures. I should never have said one, two, three. Done. That set off the lyrics and they have been stuck with me since.

1. Flowery quilt for a six year old girl.

2. A Thomas the Tank Engine quilt for a two year old boy who dressed as Thomas last Halloween.

3. A baseball quilt for a seven year old Boston Red Soxs fan.

It's easy as 1 2 3...

Now the only way to get that song out of my head is to replace it with another. How about the fact that these quilts are heading North to Alaska to three siblings who has a dad stationed far away.

In case you're not familiar with that song...

Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They're goin' North, the rush is on.

Day 579

I almost took a picture of the reader board at the coffee shop by the gas station. Today it read: Having kids is like being pecked to death by a duck. In my case it should read, Having a husband who is sick is like being pecked to death by a duck. 

I passed on that picture, but opted for a better one. If I hadn't driven the back road to the gas station I wouldn't have been able to capture the morning sun reflecting off of Lake Lowell. What a spectacular view.

Day 578

As I was harvesting things from the garden today I realized I'm going to miss it. Not miss the weeds, not miss the mud and the bugs. Certainly not miss the bending over. I'm going to miss the convenience of having veggies right close. I'm going to miss having the peace of mind in knowing who and what has touched my produce and what pesticides are on it. (None.) The money aspect of the garden has been a relief, too.

Juicing has been expensive, but being able to go to the garden and grab some kale, chard, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, and beets when I need them has helped ease the pain when I have to buy the rest of the fruits and veggies at the store.

Except October is almost here and the garden will soon be winding down. Not yet, though. My Swiss chard is still going strong. Just look at the gorgeous green leaves! For some reason I thought it important to show how big the leaves are, hence the ruler in the picture.