Long Island

I’ve been eating insane amounts of tomatoes.  I think eating tomatoes makes a person happier.  I’ve been eating so many tomatoes I fear I might start to look like one.  The Sun Sugar little yellow cherries are ridiculously delicious.  It’s wrong.  A vegetable shouldn’t taste this good.

A plate of homemade pasta with Sun Sugar tomatoes, zucchini, fresh basil, garlic, and capers.

I’ve also been eating tons of cucumbers and zucchini.  The beans are finished.  I ate those.  The peppers are doing well.  I am also consuming those at an alarming rate.  The downside to all this produce consumption is that I can picture my body going into some kind of jittery withdrawal when the growing season ends and I am forced to haul myself to the grocery store to buy food again.

It is almost the end of zucchini season here, but I was distressed to find that my plants have succumbed to the squash bug.  I was hoping my plants were stronger than that, but no.  They cheated on me…with a bug.  At this point, all I can do is tear the eggs off the plant, squash them on the patio and spray with insecticidal soap, a mixture of diluted Murphy’s Oil and water.

I’ve hardly had to do any spraying.  I’ve sprayed the soap on some aphids, but for the most part, mother nature is helping me out.  I have two garden spider webs with small spiders in them that are taking care of some bugs.  And I’ve also noticed the birds hanging out on the tomatoes every now and then.  So far, I’ve seen two dead tomato hornworms, but no damage and no more worms, so thank you, birdies!!!

The watermelon are slowly getting bigger.  Excitement!!!  These are the Doll Baby variety.

I went to Long Island for a week at the beginning of the month.  It was wonderful.  I wrote a piece about home for Women You Should Know that posted while I was up there.  Being near the beach made everything better for a while.  I mean, tell me, how could anyone be in the presence of such beauty and not be changed in some way for the better?

Bridgehampton beach on a summer day.

Ye olde mighty Atlantic.

A potato field down the street from mom and dad’s house in Mattituck on a walk to Bailie Beach.

Bailie Beach on a clear summer day.

My spot on Bailie Beach after braving the icy Long Island Sound water up to my calves.

Dad’s daylily garden.  Every single one of these plants was hybridized by dad so they are each unique in their own special way.  This is where the magic happens.

The docks in Greenport have finally been repaired following Sandy.  I never get tired of this familiar sight.

A lavender farm in East Marion in full bloom.  The color was almost as intoxicating as the smell.  Perfumed rows.

A pretty sunset on Bailie Beach after a steamy summer afternoon.

Then I came back to my garden.  And next week I head to Denver to be in my best friend’s wedding.  Before the wedding, another BFF and I are hitting Estes Park to become one with nature in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  We plan on hiking till we’re sore, drinking ungodly amounts of tea, and hopefully still being able to fit into our bridesmaid dresses at the end of the week.  This is a big moment, when a bestie gets married.  She will be my third bestie tying the knot.  I have 5 who I consider BFFs because we’ve been friends so long it’s hard to imagine not knowing them.  They have made my life better in so many ways.  So I’ll stand beside my girl and try not to cry and thank God that she found a good man.  That’s a really good prayer for a girl to have for her girlfriends…that they find good men who will love them like crazy.

I hope to post pictures of the trip next week if a bear doesn’t attack us in the park.