Takes me back to my childhood

Growing up, we always had a huge garden. I remember it being a lot of work and having lots of veggies. Mom canned everything and we would eat it all year long. We always had a cellar full of canned goods that Mom put up(that is what you call canning veggies "puttin up").

Tonight I asked Mom about canning tomatoes because ours at home are canning tomatoes and they are gonna all be ready at once. So she starts telling me the steps to do and she comes to one part where she says "You get your thang and put them in and then put them back on to boil.

I ask her "what thang?

So she gets out this strainer type thing out of her cabinet.

I said " Oh yea mom we all have a thang like that just laying around at home"

Cracked me up. She can't give a recipe either b/c its a little of this and a little of that.....

The picture below is Mom's garden this year. This is the first garden she has had in several years. Which I love because we get fresh veggies everytime we visit.

Tammy Lou was there to so Mom told us we would go pick a mess of green beans (a mess is enough for a meal or 2) . Being there with Mom and my sister brought back lots of memories from my childhood. We spent a lot of time in the garden each year. Sometimes not so much work. My Daddy only whipped me 3 times in my life and I only remember 2 of them. One was in the garden with a potato vine, because I was being lazy and had just sat down in the row when I was supposed to be picking up potatoes. Some might think that was horrible that he would do that or even that we had to work in the garden. It wasn't like that we were doing child labor. I probably spent more time sitting in the middle of the rows. I wasn't made to do much as a child except help in the garden and mow the lawn sometimes.

So tonight was fun being there with Tammy Lou and Mom working in the garden and then snapping beans.

Isn't it funny when you grow up how your views change, how you value things so differently. I am grateful for the food she is growing, that I get to bring home to feed my family. Grateful for the time spent picking beans together, just like old times

Sharing the joy with our kids Coco and my nephew Jake. They didn't stay around long. The fun wore off pretty fast for them. Just like when I was a kid.

Coco and I came home and cut open our 3rd watermelon of the week. We bought one at Wally world on Saturday and then we got home and found 2 on our front porch. Our friends brought them back for us from Missouri while they were on the way home from vacation. Good ole summer time!

Glad I stopped today to pick some beans and share some melon with my family. Makes me want more days like this. I think they are there each day, it is just taking the time to recognize them.

Blessings

Pam