Next Year Raspberries?

Gardening this year has been so much fun. I loved heading outside each day to see what gifts the garden had for me.

A bit of my bounty :)

I learned a lot this summer...,

• Don't stake your squash; cool idea, but too hard to keep up with.

• Bunnies can get through the smallest holes in your fencing to eat ALL your beans, eggplant, and kale.

• Mourning doves love to have a dirt bath in your newly planted seeds.

• Cucumbers get a pointy end if not properly pollinated.

• There is a phantom animal eating all my sweet potato vines and roots at night.

• Don't be fooled by the small marigold plants in the 6-pack... They get VERY big!

• I love to have this peaceful place to tinker and nurture food and flower. Good for the soul.

• The best thing about the garden was having extra to share :)

  
  

It was a good year for cukes, lettuce, and tomatoes. Squash? Not so much. Although I had a couple of interesting ones. ;)

and this..

My squash really loved each other and wanted to grow together. Nature is amazing!

I have already been talking to my son (my gardening guru) about what to plant next year. He eagerly offered me some cuttings from his berry bushes. He's had great success with raspberries and about 10 other berry varieties! The idea of that is magical!

So with all this talk about berries this week... my colors just had to be inspired by fruit.

I chose:

• Blueberry

• Peach

• Wild Watermelon

Once I found the colors, I had an idea of what I wanted to do with Peach, but Blueberry and Wild Watermelon surprised me. Hope you enjoy them.

Blueberry

Our two best friends have a summer home in Maine. Last summer they drove us to a small farm nearby to pick blueberries. From the moment we got out of the car, we were amazed at the number of bushes, each bursting with clusters of berries. In a very short time, we filled our buckets, and the berries were amazing.

For this poem, I wanted to try a loop poem format. It was a very fun form to try.

Here are the details about this form:

1. There are no restrictions on the number of stanzas nor on the syllable count for each line.

2. In each stanza, the last word of the first line becomes the first word of line two,

   The last word of line 2 becomes the first word of line 3, last word of line 3 becomes the first word of line 4. etc..

3. This is followed for each stanza.

4. If you rhyme, the scheme would be abcb.

Peach

Remembering this moment from a few years ago during a visit to Alabama made me cry and miss my folks so very much. I don't think I will ever eat a peach without thinking of my dad again.

Wild Watermelon

When I remembered this story, I laughed out loud. My husband's grandfather Arthur Macumber, was a sneak who loved mischief. As the new kid in the family, I was often his target...having a few seeds stuck to my cheeks ;)

Thank you to Linda Baie @ Teacher Dance for hosting this week. Check out the lovely links to poetry here.

Note: Thinking of all those we lost and their families today on 9/11. Everyone who is having a tough day today has been in my prayers. The priest at Mass this morning spoke about finding the glimmers of light in the darkness. I hope these fruity poems will be a little light, and put a little smile on your face. God bless America.