Loot and Spiders

We did get more rain this weekend than we have in a long time. Tomatoes did pretty well. They still fell over, but not as bad as they probably would have. Today, though, I figured it was time to cinch my hoodie tight and crawl into my bean mess to pick some beans. There were tons! I got a whole basket full, even skipping some in order to avoid a very large spider waiting hopefully in the center of his web. (I was hoping that he was the only such spider.) Anyway, here's a picture of my loot today. The beans fill up the basket, then everything else went crazy too. Amazing how water helps the whole process. I even have enough to share with my neighbor Deb, who usually brings over all sorts of goodies to us - from cookies to crab!


I cut some flowers too, which I'm sure are allowing an army of tiny spiders to infiltrate my house, meet friends, and make babies while I'm down here writing. Let's hope they're nice. (Can you tell I love spiders?)

Anyway, it looks like I'll be trying to pickle beans and cukes again. I tried this once with a "hot" method where you boil the finished jars and now I'll try a "cold" method where you don't. We can compare and see how different they are (if they turn out, that is). Gardening certainly is fun, and I have to say I'll be sad when the season is over. Although, I realized that the way to usher in Fall without too much grumbling is to go shopping and check out all the new sweaters and coats! That is totally shallow, I realize, but hey, it made me feel better.