Moving on with life - Summer garden bounty.

Last evening - the kitchen island!

Bob picked the figs Saturday afternoon - and has the mosquito bites to prove it!

Our neighbor, also a Bob, picked the tomatoes from his garden before leaving on a 

trip. A load of tomatoes as you can see - many of which I'm sharing with others today.

These two bowls of figs have gone to others also as I will have plenty coming

in the next couple of weeks. I'll also be harvesting more tomatoes whilst neighbor

 Bob is away and I'm minding his cat.

Sharing the bounty with others feels good. 

Making tomato sauce for the freezer will take time. Pesto will also be underway

 again this week - after the hurricane passes with hopefully no severe damage - as

 the basil plants are huge and need snipping.

Kitchen jobs have been keeping me busy whilst the concerns of what will be

 happening to the house next door have kept me wondering/worrying ------ but

 now we know!

It will be razed!

Yes, my long time neighbors moved out this weekend and we are feeling lonely.

We've now heard the buyers will start demolition of the house soon.

Their plan is to build in the $500,000-$750,000 range which means our little

 'cottage', and the cul-de-sac, will most likely be 'overwhelmed' by a mini-mansion. 

This is what's happening all around our neighborhood, but this will be the first

 such new construction on our street. We see many more larger homes coming - 

several houses on our street are owned by elderly people who moved here in

the late '60's when the subdivision was built - and they are still here even though

now in their nineties, bless them!

But none of us are here - or anywhere - forever of course.

The construction companies are waiting in the wings, breathing down our

 necks, scouting the neighborhood for those FOR SALE signs, then pouncing.

The house next door sold the first day the owners put their sign out!

This has become a year of many changes for me - sadly, most not favorable.

I think I'll leave you now - perhaps bake fig tarts, or drown myself in 

homemade pasta sauce!

Stay well, be safe dear friends.

When a house is a home. . . . . . . . . . . .

We live in an aging cottage.  

Many things are looking tired on the exterior and we must make some decisions in the coming months to ramp up the maintenance plan.  Part of our problem has been traveling often and letting things slide. We still get the chimney cleaned every year, we burn a lot of wood all Winter, and safety comes first and foremost.

 Yesterday we had the deck power washed because I just couldn't stand looking it after so much rain and then torrid heat baking it all Summer. Weather conditions, and so many huge overhanging trees, had done a job on it, turning the golden wood dark and dreary, quite uninviting. Now it's bright and beautiful again, for a while! 

Then there are windows, high up on each side, and another reason a one story condo looks more and more inviting! 

Just so you know, Bob will get upset at that last sentence!

I so love to look out at the garden through sparkling glass. I can no longer hang out the second floor windows to work magic on grimy glass! I did this until lower back issues put a stop to such silliness. Right now I'm 'babying' my back so that I can head to Kenya pain free, hopefully managing those wonderful game drives on rough terrain without discomfort. Ladders, did I really hear you say that dreaded word. . . . . . . the piece of equipment we older gals and guys need to steer clear of. So the young pony-tailed power washing guy, with muscles and no fear of heights, was also given the window washing job!

We need to have some major tree pruning and drainage work done in the back of the house, and come next Spring there will be more exterior freshening and fixing. All shrubs close to the house will have to be cut down prior to exterior painting - a huge job I can't even bear thinking about.

Well, as they say, "that's life", let's face it, being a homeowner/gardener

 is not for the faint-hearted.