Okay, I haven’t really gone fishin’. But I am going on a trip! I’m going to New York for the first time since I left in late 2011 and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it, plus getting out of town can be challenging for me, because I have a garden and a dog. Both are hard to leave behind, but both are in good hands. Plus it’s been pouring for two days, so that helps the garden part.

And then there’s New York. I was so infatuated with New York for so long, and when we finally got together I was happy. Really happy. I was so full of the possibility of us. Our future together. The things we would do. That lasted for a while, but eventually it all became too much – too much drama, too much energy, too much money. I couldn’t remember why we were together anymore and I felt lonely all the time. I had to admit to myself that I wasn’t getting what I needed out of our relationship. I had to cut my losses and let it go, regardless of what I had invested in it. Our break up was drawn out and exhausting and it took its toll on me, but I don’t think New York has thought about me once. And that’s okay. I’m cool with that. I can honestly say I have moved on. I can be grateful for the experience without feeling stupid and used.

Except now I’m returning…

I had that ↑ talk with my dear friend Kenneth and when we realized that it really was like a break up, I could laugh at it, and now I’m just so excited to see my friends that I don’t even need to see New York. I don’t care what it thinks of me. Because we are never ever getting back together.

Oh, and while I’m there I’m also going to see Taylor Swift with my seven-year old niece, five-year old nephew, both of my sisters, my brother-in-law, and one of my very best friends, so how can I not shake it off?!

In the meantime I’ll give you an update of things around the garden and when I get back we can talk about New York and Taylor Swift and the carrot seed tape I recently made, and who know what else?

We are currently harvesting potatoes

and carrots

and green beans

and we’re very close to tomatillos.

I am enraptured by tomatillos. The way those floating lanterns catch the light and glow is entirely mesmerizing. Granted, there hasn’t been a lot of light for them to catch lately, but when they do it’s hypnotizing.

We’re also getting very close to an onslaught of ripe tomatoes.

What we don’t have are cucumbers. After going out every night for a week with my camping headlamp on to intercept slugs, they were finally coming into their own and starting to climb…

…only to be laid low by bacterial wilt. Major bummer. We can talk about that when I get back too.

I started some new seeds and they have already sprouted, so hopefully all is not lost and I’ll get to tell you all about the joys of homemade cornichons a little later in the season.

We also have a mystery guest. I have no idea who this is.

I know it’s a squash of some ilk, but that’s all I’ve got. David found it as a seedling in the onion bed and moved it outside the fence. I thought it was a yellow crookneck originally because that’s what was there last year. Whatever it is it’s growing like gangbusters in all directions.

I don’t know if I should harvest it small, or let it get big, or what! Maybe it’s a cross breed? I’ll try to figure that out when I get home. The wheelbarrow back there is my feeble attempt to barricade deer from the okra. And that neon green thing is a mesh bag of Irish spring for the same reason.

They’ve been helping themselves to my roses too! Those bags of soap remind me of girl scout camp. Good times!

So that’s about that. I hope everyone is having an awesome summer so far!