The Fruits of Summer

Nothing says summer like a fresh from the vine tomato sammich. Even better if the tomato is still warm from the sunshine, juicy sweet, lightly salted and smeared with Miracle Whip then tucked between two slices of the softest bread. Now that's eating!! I think the whole point of having a garden, for me anyway, is to have tomato sandwiches. I'm not big on canning. Okay, I don't can at all. I froze some of our beans, sauteed up quite a bit of yellow squash and zucchini, sliced some cucumbers into my salads, and we're still waiting on the beet harvest. But none of those ever get me as excited as a big fat tomato screaming to be sliced into a sandwich! For some reason, though, I only planted cherry tomatoes this year--the tomato in the picture is from our friends' farm. It's kind of hard to keep those little cherry ones from sliding out the sides of the bread! So next year...next year I need to plant some bigger sandwich size tomaters! Definitely.

So the summer is quickly winding down to a close and I'm already looking forward to fall. Cooler temperatures and much less humidity. School buses and homework. Colorful mums filling in beds and planters as the trees slowly change over to shades of gold and orange, deep reds and rich browns. Soon pumpkins start popping up on doorsteps and porches. Life finally seems to slow down again after the summer rush as old routines and schedules take over once more. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year...and then...then there comes snow!