Vine Ripened Breakfast

There’s something wonderful about picking a cantaloupe and eating a vine-ripened breakfast. This morning I just had melon for breakfast, picked fresh from the garden…juicy, not as sweet as I would have liked, but I imagine bursting with vitamins, minerals and other good-for-me things. I ate as much as I wanted and put the rest away for later. When eating fresh, raw fruits for breakfast, you don’t have to worry so much about calories!

It was lonely here this morning without my sister and her family. They came from New York to stay with us for a few days and left yesterday morning. I got used to sitting on my rocking chair on the front porch with my big sister, sipping coffee, and watching the hummingbirds play at the feeder as the sun rose. I wish I had a transporter, like in Star Trek. Mary could zap over each morning for coffee then zap back to her home and job at Molloy College. And I could zap up to Long Island in the afternoon to go for a bike ride with her.

But that’s not to be, at least not yet. We have to rely upon Amtrak trains.

We went up to Monitcello, Thomas Jefferson’s home, and I enjoyed the recreated gardens very much. We also got a chance to visit the University of Virginia, which Jefferson designed. I stood in the rotunda and breathed in the scent of old wood and books: “Ah, the smell of learning!” We ate dinner at Charley’s cafe in Farmville and my brother Joe came with his whole family for a visit on Sunday. I saw my grand-nephew, Adam, for the first time. He toddled around the patio and charmed us all with his affectionate grin and his new word: “GO!” And go he does, all the time…poor Dexter and Gina, my nephew in law and niece and baby Adam’s parents. They never get a break with this little guy zooming around, showing off his new walking skills!

Shadow was an angel dog with the baby, allowing him to pet her thick soft fur, grab her tail, and crawl around under him. At one point Adam fed her one of his baby crackers. She gingerly took it in her huge jaws, walked to the garden, and amidst our gales of laughter, she buried it neatly in the flower beds, using that big German Shepherd snout to shovel the dirt over it. You couldn’t even tell where she’d buried it! She has never done that before. Later that evening she went back, dug it up, and had a snack! If she was off on the lawn and the baby began to cry, she would pick her head up and trot back to the patio, gently licking his head or nudging him with her nose. It worked every time. The baby would stop crying and smile through his wet, sticky tears. Shadow would look worriedly at him, then when she was sure everything was all right, she would suffer another pat from his tiny hands, and lay back down on the lawn where she could watch him.

Now it’s back to work…the house is quiet, loads of laundry are tumbling, and today’s agenda is full of marketing work for my clients, writing and editing projects, and gardening tasks. Yesterday after the company left I blanched and froze a gallon of fresh green beans, and today my plan is to do the same with the carrots and peppers. The garden is bursting with life right now, and I am like the ant in the old Aesop’s fable, putting aside as much as I can so I can remember these warm, fun days of early August when the January frosts lay thick on the fields.