Eyes that see the good in things: Oct. 8, 2018

How is it that the busiest people seem to get the most things done? Have you ever noticed that? I have a cousin who works a full-time job, traveling across country. She’s away from home a lot. While she’s gone, she makes the most of these trips and soaks in the places and things that she hasn’t seen before. Her Facebook posts are always interesting, with pictures of new and interesting “roads less traveled” types of places. Not long ago, she posted pictures of a mama bear with cubs just across the river from her, near Jackson Hole, Wyo. Last week, her pictures came from Niagara Falls. This week, she’s in Nashville, Tenn.

However, her pictures from home are just as interesting as her pictures tell the story about the parts of her life that are most important to her. Her grandkids stay with her often when she’s home and she loves watching them play volleyball, basketball, football, lacrosse and hockey. Her photos also reflect the home life she enjoys, capturing pictures of her flowers and her garden. It seems like she’s rarely home but she’s in her family’s lives, posting pictures of her grandsons as they hunt with grandpa learn to drive the pick-up, tractor or combine, climb trees and go fishing. She cleans, cooks and bakes for her mom and the thing that always amazes me is that she still has a garden, which every year produces a bounty of vegetables she shares with her family. At this time of year, her pictures from home include a big pot of vegetable soup with dumplings and gleaming jars of canned tomatoes and salsas. And she was there when her daughters got their kids together for a pumpkin carving, caramel apple dipping, hot apple cider kind of day.

But, as I said, this week she’s at a conference in Nashville, and this time grandpa went with her. While she spent her days in sessions, he went exploring. I’m writing this on Wednesday, which is the day that we all got the Presidential Alert on our cell phones. He’d heard about this on the news and while he was downtown, the text came through. A woman walking nearby him didn’t know what was happening and he explained it to her. It was a short conversation, she thanked him and they each went on their way. Except that night when they went for supper, the manager of the restaurant came to their table and told them to order whatever they wanted, and it was on the house. Apparently, the owner of the restaurant, had been helped that day by “the man in the cowboy hat” and she wanted to say thanks! As you know, I love those kinds of stories and they seem to happen more frequently than we think they do.

I may be telling my cousin’s story simply to encourage myself to keep going with my own garden. After all, if she can do it, I certainly can! But we always plant too much of something. This year’s squash crop was amazing. Maybe a little smaller than it could have been because of the lack of water. I’ve been telling myself that’s been a blessing though. I picked over 200 buttercup and bonbon squash and have been trying to give them away to everyone I know who likes them. Since I never work Mondays, I loaded my car with as many squash as I dared and took off for Minnesota to deliver garden produce to my parents. In addition to the squash, I took them beets, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, chokecherry and jalapeno jelly. I think next year, I’ll have to be a better daughter and either bring the vegetables already processed or stay and help them.

As I drove through North Dakota that day, it dawned on me that I could get rid of a lot of squash by stopping at family member’s homes and leaving “gifts” on their doorsteps. I giggled as I drove away from my niece’s house with the vegetables lining one side of her entrance. My trip took a little longer than I’d planned that day, but it was a lot of fun and it made me feel good. After leaving Mom and Dad all the squash they wanted, we loaded the rest of it into the trunk of their car for them to deliver to relatives in Fargo. I’ll be delivering to Grand Forks this weekend, which will leave us with a manageable amount. My family tells me that they probably won’t be able to eat everything that I left for them, but they will give it to people who want it.

Every year we tell ourselves that we won’t plant as much next year. This year, I have been warned. Actually, it’s our daughter who has been warned. Last night her dad said, “If there are more than four tomato plants, two cucumbers, two zucchini and three squash planted next spring, I am pulling them out after you leave the garden.” I guess we’ll all see how good our memory is when spring planting comes around.

Right now, I am in full agreement with him, but my sore muscles may be coloring my perspective. And I have a lot of work left to do; the vegetables are inside but they still need to be processed. By the time I go back to work on Tuesday, I hope to have done a big batch of spaghetti sauce and have a year’s supply of squash in the freezer. Then, the only thing I’ll have left to take care of will be the beets and the carrots.

As I drive through the countryside though, the creativity of people’s fall decorations remind me to be thankful for what I have. I enjoy the artistic displays of cornstalks and pumpkins that proclaim the bounty of the harvest and point us toward a new season. I wait for one of those displays to appear every year! I also know that my garden experiences are not much different than anyone else’s. There’s always a lot of work to get done this time of year. Sometimes, the yield is not all that impressive. Usually though, it’s amazing what those few little seeds can do in a couple of months. And when they do, I’m grateful.

We would love to share local stories about the good things your eyes are seeing.

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