Vegetable Garden – Cynthia Reyes

A Good Home, Afternoon Tea, Friendship, Gardens, Joyful Moments, July Garden, Kindness, Nature, Ontario, Outdoor Living, Red currants, Relationships, Summer Garden, Vegetable Garden, Vegetables

Food, Friends, Verandah

August 24, 2014August 26, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Everybody was complaining about summer.

Not me.

After a painful several months – much of it spent in bed – I welcomed the summer by taking to the verandah.

Colourful cushions, simple wood furniture and time-worn rugs created a homey feel.

A verandah is a place for serious summer reading….

Or some serious hanging out….

In the nearby garden, sometimes it rained and hailed and the wind was crazy.

But flowers bloomed everywhere.

Birds sang.

The air was fresh.

Family and friends came to visit.

Some invited themselves, which I loved.

“How are you coping these days?”

“I’ve taken to the verandah,” I replied.

“I’m coming to visit!”

It was the summer of the verandah. Of kindness and affection. Laughter and quiet moments.

My editor Tim, returning home to South Africa, spent most of his last week in Canada with our family. He held court on the verandah like an eminence grise, saying wise, cryptic and funny things to everyone.

Some people wondered how he’d handle returning to a country which he left decades ago. Tim’s enigmatic reply: “Did I mention I’ll have the use of a heated swimming pool?”

“Long way to go for a heated swimming pool,” we laughed.

Of course, one should always feed one’s visitors. Despite one’s lack of cooking talent.

“You are the best cook I’ve ever met,” Tim declared, straight-faced, to loud laughter.

I swatted him with my dinner napkin. He complained – theatrically – of “the abuses I suffer in your home”.

We alternated between joking, serious talk and companionable silence. If tears were hovering, we didn’t let them show. This man has been a stalwart friend to me through life’s challenging times and I shall miss him.

Marilyn visited next. Marilyn’s the doyenne of tea (See Simply Splendid Victorian Afternoon Teas.) She kindly admired my floral arrangement and I wisely served a cold lunch… no cooking required.

“I caught that salmon, smoked it and sliced it,” I lied.

“Well done,” she praised, playing along.

Seriously, though: the lettuce, tomatoes and red currants came from our garden.

Longtime friend Dale arrived late one night, on her way back home from visiting family out west. I made breakfast, the only thing I cook consistently well, and we caught up on family news.

Marie, who lives way up north, took an evening break from her role in an important cross-country hearing. My husband cooked supper that day, as he did for my childhood friend, Angela and her family. Wonderful occasions.

Jacqui dropped in and lucked into one of the nicest dishes I made this summer.

“But this is GOOD!” she declared.

“Don’t tell anyone!” I pleaded. “You’ll ruin my reputation.”

Anthony Trollope once asked: “What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book and a cup of coffee?”

My answer: “A verandah, a garden, and loved ones to share them with.”

Dedicated, with a grateful heart, to my caring family and friends… and everyone who appreciates a verandah.

A Good Home, Blessings, Canadians, Couples, Family Stories, Gardening, Garlic, Home, Inspiration, Love letters, Loving Acts, Vegetable Garden

“If you are reading this, it means….”

August 5, 2014August 5, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Our friend Jacqui phoned.

“Are you going to be there in a few minutes? I’m coming for a visit.”

I smiled. It was almost exactly what Paddy used to say. Minutes later, he and his wife Jacqui would be at our door.

Married for decades, they were always together, these two.

Our family loved their visits.

But Paddy died from cancer earlier this year.

We wondered if Jacqui would continue the impromptu visits. I was very pleased with her call.

As usual, I let her in through the kitchen door, and we hugged.

We sat at the harvest table.

It was the same table that just last October was laden with produce from the garden — including the lone Jamaican pumpkin that grew from a seedling that Paddy and Jacqui had given us that spring.

“Come for your share of the pumpkin harvest,” we’d phoned them, laughing.

When they came, we handed them a bag filled with herbs, garlic, tomatoes and half of the Jamaican pumpkin.

Now, 8 months later, Jacqui and I sat together at the table for the first time without Paddy.

We sipped our tea.

She’d been going through Paddy’s belongings, she said. Deciding what to give away, and identifying matters that needed her immediate attention.

She opened Paddy’s briefcase.

She saw an envelope addressed “To My Wife”.

She ripped it open and started to read:

“My dearest Jacqui.

So faithful and true!

… Without you, I would have had nothing. It was due to your sacrifices that we survived. You gave so much and demanded so little. Thank you for being so much to me over the years….”

“I want you to read it,” Jacqui said now, handing me the long white envelope. She had torn it open at one end, but the writing on the front was clear: “To My Wife”, it said.

I reached into the envelope, pulled out the letter.

I got goosebumps.

Paddy’s letter to Jacqui ends with this paragraph:

“If you are reading this, it means that I’ve passed on. Don’t be sad. Our life together was good! Although I won’t be here in body, I will always be at your side in spirit.

“Good bye my love!”

Moved by his love for her and their daughter Donna — and by this considerate act – Jacqui cried.

But here’s what surprised her most: the letter was dated August 9, 1999.

Paddy wrote it 14 years before – and put it in his briefcase, where he knew Jacqui would find it.

The impact on Jacqui was so positive that on a subsequent visit, as we sat on the verandah, she agreed to let me share excerpts from the letter.

The lesson here:

There’s no need to wait. You can write that letter to someone you love right now.

A Good Home, Flowering Vegetables, Flowers, Gardening, Homes, Vegetable Garden

You Can’t Eat Flowers

July 11, 2014July 11, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

This is the rallying cry of People Who Grow Vegetables.

People like My Better Half.

And his friend Vito, the neighbour who regularly turns up his nose at my flowers. Which is exactly why I had this picture taken of Vito among the flowers.

For spite.

But I digress.

Again.

Sorry ’bout that.

Truth is, you have to give thanks for People Who Grow Vegetables, because while I love flowers, I also love to eat fresh food. So lettuce be grateful. (Sorry — I couldn’t resist.)

Here then, is a pictorial salute to vegetable gardeners. It is made up of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beets, lettuce, asparagus and other good stuff from the earth.

The photos, as promised, are of My Better Half’s vegetable garden.

In this shot (below centre), asparagus spears have been left to grow into ferns. They’ll be thick and lush in weeks.

On the right are spinach and salad greens, including my favorite arugula. On the left: A raspberry bush, gifts from our friends Paddy and Jacqui. It’s loaded with berries right now.