Easy As She Goes

My knee looks a little bit less elephantine and a little more human and it doesn't hurt very much so I took a teeny tiny walk today. And look what I found! Those pretty gladiolas, growing wild right next to the woods by the sidewalk. I have seen many orange gladiolas growing around here, seemingly wild, but never a white one. So I trudged through the weeds and probably seed ticks to pick that one. It was almost lying down and no one in the world would ever have noticed it so I decided to bring it home and set it in water where it would make me happy. Later on in my walk, when I was half a block from home, I noticed some clumps of pretty black-eyed susans growing beside Mr. Lawrence's old store which is owned by someone now (not Mr. Lawerence) who bought it years ago and is letting it fall to the ground. It is for sure an eyesore and probably a danger, too, and people do complain about it because it's on one of the four corners of the intersection of two main roads that cross each other in Lloyd, right under the flashing light. I don't care what it looks like, really, because if people see it and think, "Well, I sure don't want to live in such a trashy area," all the better. Get on with your bad selves! Move somewhere else! 

Anyway, I did pick some of those lovelies and this is what they all look like in my kitchen. 

Not too impressive but wild and scrappy and I like it like that. 

As you can see, I also canned some more pickled green beans. I picked after my walk and then I got the canner out and started cutting beans I already had in bags in the refrigerator into the proper length for the jars. My next trip to the grocery store is going to involve buying more jars and lids. 
Oh wait! I think I saw some at the FGDDG last week! 

I didn't even get around to canning the beans I picked today as the canner will only hold seven jars and so I probably have another gallon and a half in the refrigerator. We are going to eat some with our supper tonight, along with the few potatoes I dug up last week. Is there anything better than that? 

And I guess that's about all I have to talk about today. It's been a quiet day, uneventful and pretty easy. 
For me, at least. 

Lily and her kids all have strep throat and so they're miserable. Strep  is horrible. It's like a flu that involves having razor blades in your throat, isn't it?  They're all on antibiotics now so they'll be feeling better soon. 

And Jessie and her family are on their way home from being in NC with all the family. They'll be heading back up pretty soon for the summer so I hope that we can all do things together before they leave, like going to the river. Especially going to the river. 
Mostly going to the river. 

Summer just does roll on in, doesn't it? It rolls in and slows us down with its heat and its haze and our subsequent daze and the songs of crickets, cicadas, frogs and birds, all of whom seem to be saying, "Shhh, shhh. No need to rush. Sit and look around, sit and look up. Stroll to the garden and fill your pockets with whatever's ripe. Everything is unfolding as it will and is not yours to control. Take it easy. It's summer in Florida." 

Or at least that's how I feel about it. 

Love...Ms. Moon