Morning

61°f, 16°C, cloudy and light showers. 

A cooler morning, which is a welcome relief after the hear of the past few days. We were up early; Larry has an appointment at the VA, this time in Charleston for blood work, and I wanted to get in the garden before the predicted rain arrived.

I kind of made it, only got a little wet. I planted kale and lettuce seeds, a few more onion sets, celery and Savoy cabbage plants, and dug up the remaining leeks to turn into potato leek soup for the freezer this afternoon. 

The garden is doing well so far, although one part of the lettuce and radishes patch is less than great. Not sure why, but I will give it some seaweed fertilizer and see if that helps.

I am trying something: putting onions in amongst the new asparagus bed. My thinking is that asparagus roots are very deep so onions won't affect them, and I can use otherwise wasted garden space, as there is a good bit of room between these first-year asparagus plants. I also put celery between the asparagus and the garlic--again, the space is wasted, and since this is in the no-till area of the garden, close planting is not a problem. I hope.

When I finished in the garden, I stopped in the root cellar and brought in jars of green beans, corn, pickled jalapeños, elderberry jelly, apple cider and pears to restock the kitchen cupboard. Then inside, finally to make breakfast: boiled eggs, toast, tomato juice and coffee. Dishes done, then laundry sorted and the washer started, floors swept. Outside again to check on my little greenhouses and the seedlings i transplanted yesterday.

Mixed into my morning work were calls and texts from youngest son, frantic and angry because his apartment complex management had mistakenly towed his car, and the office was closed so he couldn't find out where his car was. He is between jobs and squeaky tight on money, and given his severe anxiety disorder things like this are the last thing he needs. So I spent some time talking him off the ceiling and convincing him not to go beat the h*ll out of someone, which he was more than certain he wanted to do. Whew. 

And now it is 11:30 and I can sit down with my coffee and catch up with all of you! Later I will finish painting the cabinet I've been working on and make this recipe from Angie's blog, while hopefully listening to rain fall gently on the gardens. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Seen Along the Way

55°f this morning, mostly clear and breezy. Reached 82. Too hot too early. Out in the gardens early.

Some pictures taken recently that I haven't had a chance to post.

Today, the log room is cool, with the ceiling fan on and the windows open.

Coming home from our friend's greenhouse yesterday with a bunch of plants. 90 degrees.

An old church, no longer in use, on the way to the greenhouse.

Double tulip in my flowerbed.

Another picture from Saturday, after the race.

Pretty blooms on a tree. Sourwood, maybe?

Marsh marigolds, Greenbrier County, WV.

Old house in Pocahontas County. 

Small bouquet on my deck

Buckeye Bend Books in Pocahontas County,  the day after the auction. The owner passed away, so all the contents were sold.

Next 3 are also in Pocahontas County

 

North Fork of the Cherry River

More wildflowers from the same place I stopped two weeks ago. 

A very large violet

Giant bellflower

Another type of violet

The park service removed the handle from the old pump, sadly. We always got water there when traveling through. 

Poke greens cookin' up! This big pot cooked down to about a pint. Still delicious.

Some nice recent finds forvour booths.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Race Day: GGRR 2024

No idea of the temperature this morning as we were staying with a friend in Pocahontas County. There, it was about 50, cloudy and a brief shower at 8, then warming and sunny by afternoon.

Man. What. a. day.

My oldest son and his son and daughter competed in the Great Greenbrier River Race, a triathlon that includes a 3- mile run, floowed by a 4-mile kayak trip down the river, and a 10-mile bike leg along the Greenbrier River Rail Trail ( which was recently added to the National Trails system, and passes right by the Poet Camp).

My son just turned 55, his son is 28 and his daughter is, I think, 24. Here they are just before the race. You can see some of the 200 orvso kayaks on the riverbank behind them.

Kayaks waiting. There are canoes too. More were added after my photo.

Somewhere I have a video of the runners taking off, but can't find it! 

Here they are, after the run, getting into their kayaks. George was first, getting on the required lifejacket, 

then Clayton,  not far behind his Dad,

 and then Grace.

After the kayaks left, we had a wait while they went downriver to where their bikes were waiting,  and biked thev10 miles back.

I was so busy trying to find a way for my friend Melanie to sit down that I almost missed George coming in! I managed to yell his name and snap a shot of his back.

Can you tell how proud I was of my boy? (He's actually a bank president, but will always be my boy!)

And then, Grace, followed by her brother, crossed the finish line!

After they were all in:

Final results: George placed 4th in his class (50-59 male) and 19th overall male. Not bad! Grace placed 3rd in her class (17-29 female) and 22nd overall Women. Clayton, who is in the Navy and had not biked or kayaked in 6 years, placed 

10th in his class and 60th overall male. (Mama Sandy is a pharmacist and minister, so she was home putting together her Sunday sermon.)

But there's more! My son Aaron and his wife were also running in a race in their community.

Aaron placed 1st in his class, and Jaime place 1st in hers, and 3rd overall in Women's. I so wish I could have been in two places at once, but we couldn't be there for their wins. Darn it!

It was also my Aunt Georgette's 9pth birthday today. Quite a day for our family. 

We stayed overnight last night with dear Melanie, whom we had not seen in two years. We made pasta at her house, drank wine and watched movies, just catching up. What a treat. Thankfully none of us had to do any running the next day! 

We stayed a while after the race, then it was back on the road, across the greening mountains to home. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.