Thyme on My Hands

This springy plant has been thriving in my vegetable garden in the back-back for years. I have to get close to it and touch it, even when I’m not using it in any recipe. I think it just calls to me. “Hey, Lolly. Check out my new lilac-colored flowers.”

Sweet basil is also a friend of mine. I can never pass it without drinking in its wonderful fragrance. Tonight, John’s making us another Caprese salad with basil leaves and mozzarella topped with good balsamic vinegar and equally lovely virgin olive oil and some flaky salt that crystallizes on top. Ummm. We have basil growing in several containers and it’s still doing well so we need to use it regularly to keep it producing more of its delectable leaves.

With the change of seasons near, I’ve noticed that many plants are going to seed. When I see that happening, I cut off these growths and pray that the plant will want to put some more energy into producing more vegetables before giving up for the year. But the closer we get to autumn, the more concerned I am, that we’re just running out of time for another full flush of goodness from most of my plantings. This was the shortest summer season on record since we moved here. It only really took off with heat and fair skies last week, when we had a heat wave. In between we’ve had torrents of rain. Tomorrow Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the temperatures are dropping, the wind is picking up and it will be raining nonstop. So today I rushed around taking photos of the few rose blooms now opening that are just responding to a few days of sunshine. It’s been a weird year for these roses although some plants favored the wet conditions and produced an abundance of flowers.

Overall, I feel like I’m the inspector general of the blooms and I go around and around lopping off some dead branches and removing spent flowers as I see them. But, It could be worse. I could have a regular job inside, somewhere.