Late Summer Reflections: 50 Trips Around the Sun

Late Summer View ~ Dry & Hot


It is the third week in August. Late summer. Almost time for the kids to be back in school. Time to get in that last minute summer vacation.

Some call it the “dog days of summer”. Though the weather is still blazing hot, I know that autumn is just around the corner. Every August I realize this, and every August seems to sneak up on me suddenly as if I didn’t know it was coming. As if I couldn’t read my calendar.


Can you spy the veggies in between the weeds?

There are major weeds in my vegetable garden right now. I have really neglected it this year. I never even got most of it planted, and now it’s too late. For this year anyway. It’s just too hot out, and I have been too busy with other things to pay much attention to my beloved garden. The garden that feeds me. The garden that I enjoy so much.

The late summer season and my neglected garden seem to be metaphors for my own life. I feel as though I am entering my own late summer season, and I am aware that I have neglected many important areas of my life over the past few years.

Oh, I have been busy, not lazy at all. I always have something going on. Some project or plan on which I am working. It just seems that much of my time and energy have been siphoned off lately taking care of other people’s problems, cleaning up other’s messes and trying to find balance in my life that I swear I used to have. I haven’t spent enough time on the things that I love the most in this life. I need to focus more on the things (and beings!) that make me truly happy, that inspire me, that help me to grow and evolve my soul.



Whispering Jessie ~ My Sweet Kitty



Jack & Bob


Each August I think about these things, but particularly so this third week in August of this particular year. This is a special time for me.

Today is my 50th birthday.

At exactly 10am today I turned 50 years old. That’s the big five-oh. A half century. I am a “semi-centenarian”, if there is such a thing.

I guess I am feeling this birthday much more than I felt my 40th or my 30th. With this birthday come many things that have to do with the aging process that I don’t really like.

Physical body changes. Sleep disturbances. Weight gain. Forgetfulness and distraction. Acute mental and emotional awareness that I am not a young woman anymore. These are some of the things that I don’t really like.

The medical people refer to me as a “post-menopausal woman”. Great label. Thanks. Thanks, so much. Accurate, but not very flattering.

Aches and pains seem to occur more frequently now. Stiffness. Especially in the morning upon waking. Waking, that is, if I even get any sleep at all during the night.

I went bra shopping the other day. I really needed some new ones as my old ones were so tattered and worn. This is not a chore that I look forward to. Standing there in the unflattering vaguely blue-green florescent lighting in the department store dressing room looking at that middle aged woman staring back from the mirror at me. That can’t be me, I think to myself. I don’t feel like that woman looks. Didn’t I just turn 20, like yesterday? This woman’s body is overweight and saggy! That can’t be me. And these bras don’t fit like they used to fit on my once thin and sexy young body. It depressed me for a few minutes. Not a long time, I recovered my good mood fairly quickly, but it’s still not a fun task to shop for clothes or intimate apparel these days. Forget about bathing suits.

I need to get in shape and lose some weight. I am not happy with how my body looks or performs. I need my strength and flexibility back. It will take work, but I must do it, and do it soon. I want to feel strong, vibrant and sexy.

When I look in my mirror these days, I see my Mom looking back at me. Now, I love my Mom dearly, and I think she was a very pretty woman, but I am not ready to look as old as she was when I last saw her at age 73 (she passed away 13 years ago). I see more and more of her in my mirror each passing day. I say “Hi Mom” and walk away from the mirror.

My 40th birthday seemed like it was going to be a milestone. A turning point. My entry into middle age. But it really didn’t have a major effect on my psyche. It came and went largely unnoticed.

I remember on my 30th birthday, I sent my Mom a bouquet of flowers with a special note attached saying “Mom, thank you for having me. I love you.” She loved all flowers, and my gift really touched her heart. She thanked me over and over again. I am so glad that I did that for my 30th and did not wait, because my Mom wasn’t here for my 40th. I am glad I got the chance to thank her for creating me, raising me and giving me her love and wisdom. I do still miss her so very much. Especially on my birthday. She always made my birthday very special with her fun gifts wrapped in colorful papers and ribbons.


My Mom ~ Jennie


I think maybe that’s why this 50th birthday is making me pause and think so much. Maybe I am just really missing my Mom right now. I miss her nurturing and her acceptance. I miss her passion for life, her laughter and her love.

A lot has been going on in my life this past year. A lot of changes. A lot of responsibilities. A lot of stress. I have had to deal with letting go of things that I had been holding onto for a very long time. Letting go of some things from my childhood, too. I’ll write more about these things another time, but for now, I guess I have been a bit too focused on my own aging because of having to let go of my childhood things. All at once. With me sort of kicking and screaming to keep hold of them. At age 50. Sheesh.

I need to learn which things to keep and which to let go freely. I need to get my balance back. My joy. My passion. My zest for life. I need to look forward to new chapters in my life. My fifties. OK. If I have to. There are worse things than growing older.

I actually like my life. I am loved. I have friends. I have family. My home is comfortable and pleasant. I have plenty to eat. (too much usually!) I really do have it good. I need to focus on those positive things more often.

This milestone 50th birthday has been a wake up call for me to actively improve the things in my life that need improving and to let go of the things that are not working to make me happy.

It’s time. I have much work to do.

I will start tomorrow.

Today we celebrate and eat cake & ice cream!




Happy Birthday to me! I love you all. Thank you for being in my life. ♥

© Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket

Take it Like a Man ~ Michelle Wright is HOT!

I've loved this song (every word of it!) since this album came out way back in 1992. It just has such a good sound. My being totally resonates with it.

I really love her style, her voice, her energy. Such depth of emotion. She speaks my heart.

© Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket

Midsummer Harvest

Small Harvest



French Breakfast Radishes, Radish Greens, Snow Peas & Baby Romaine Lettuce. That's all I could harvest today from my midsummer garden. Everything is growing so slowly this year. Except for the weeds! I seem to be able to grow huge, luxurious weeds very well indeed.

Arrgggh!

I just haven't had the time this year to get out there and pull out the weeds when they are small and easier to remove. I know better than to let them grow big, but have not had the time to address them. I will. I really will.

So except for the berries and cherries (I will write about those in another post) and the artichokes which I posted about toward the end of "Spring" last May, I really have not had a very productive garden yet this year. Got started late and things are growing slowly. I haven't even planted some of my summer crops yet! There is still time, but I do worry that summer will be over before I can gather my usual abundant veggie harvest.

I love my garden. I love growing and eating fresh vegetables and fruits. I just need to make more time for it in my life.

I need to be at one with my garden.
Zen gardening.
Yes.






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Spring is Finally Here!

Sweet Strawberries ~ freshly picked

My strawberries have started to ripen. I have gathered those that the birds and bugs have left unsampled. Not many so far, but very nice ones.



Artichokes!

Multiple artichokes have appeared! The most and the largest in the many years that I've had this artichoke plant. Must be due to our prolonged cold & wet weather. I am tired of the cold wet weather, but am loving the artichoke production.



Blue Irises

I used to get many colors and many blooms in my iris beds. Not so much variety in recent years. This year I have many blue and some dark red blooms to enjoy. They do add cheer to my day. You can spy some golden California poppies sneaking in there between the irises.




Spring Bouquet


I made an impromptu bouquet of Sweet Williams, Sage flowers and Lavender. You can't really see the lavender in this photo, but it's there. Really. Lovely scent and color to brighten my home.

Finally, it feels like Spring here today. Tomorrow it will suddenly be summer. Then I'll be complaining that it's too hot...




© Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket

Country Humor

From June/July 2010 Reader's Digest magazine page 39:


A born and bred New Yorker is in the country when he sees a field of animals and says to the farmer, "What a strange looking cow. Why doesn't it have horns?"

"Well, there are several reasons," the farmer replies. "Some cows get their horns late, while others have their horns cut off, and still others never even grow horns."

"And this cow?" the city man asks.

"Well, the reason this cow doesn't have any horns is that it's a horse."

One Month into Spring

It snowed here last night. Not a lot, but still cold, icy, snow.

Third week in April. It's supposed to be springtime now, right?



My driveway ~ can you see the pear & apple blossoms covered in snow?


It's been a long, cold, wet winter. I am tired of the rain and snow now.



Cherry Tree & Bay Tree ~ snow frosted



CA Redbud Tree ~ in full bloom ~ snow frosted

Note my lounge chair in the photo above. The one I enjoy sunning myself in when it's warm outside. Covered in a thin layer of snow this morning. No sunning myself today!

That's the edge of my main raised bed garden to the right of the photo. Full of snow. Good thing I have been too busy to plant it yet. Only the over wintered garlic grows in there today. I normally have all of my cool weather crops in by the first week in April. Between the weather and my schedule this year, I have done almost nothing to ready my gardens. The guys did help me to weed it. So that's something.


Manzanita Trees ~ pretty when laced with snow


I long for the softness, warmth and sweet scents of Spring. I want to see my gardens grow. I love the little seedlings pushing up from the soil. So brave. So strong. So determined. I love how they grow big and produce much.

Butterflies and flowers. I am so ready for them.



Colorful Roses ~ picked April 18th

The beautiful, sweet smelling roses in this last photo, were picked at my Mom's old house located a couple of hundred miles from here in a warmer sea-level climate. It was actually almost hot there last Sunday when I collected them. They remind me of her.

© Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket

Mutant Over-Wintered Carrots

Alien Carrots


This is what happens when you leave your carrots in the ground for a full year from one spring to the next.

You get "Attack of the Mutant Carrots".

Could be the title of a new movie....



© Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket