Simple Pleasures Are Best

 25 cucumbers from the garden. Medium size, firm, crunchy. My son peeled off the skins, my daughter then sliced and added salt and red wine vinegar. This is what they eat in heaven. Has to be. And they probably have gardens too. So they can have green beans with butter and salt, and zucchini and peppers and onions roasted and drizzled with olive oil and basil, and warm red ripe tomatoes. I love my garden! I spend way too much time in it and say next year it is going to be smaller, and next year it never is. And despite a constant and unsuccessful battle to eliminate the evil beetles, I still keep trying, with knowledge of the definition of insanity. But there are signs of intellectual progress. Last year we finally added a fence....my husbands idea after he had to come home urgently at noon, dressed in his suit and with a shovel in one hand to scoot the baby groundhog out of the garden. But then the weasel was digging under the fence and he had to come home again to figure something out and get the animal out. The year before 6 not so cute baby bunnies lived in between the lettuce and the spinach. That explained a lot. But in the end, the satisfaction of picking and enjoying watermelon and cantaloupe we planted and harvested outweighs all the difficulties...and it is so worth the effort.