The End

And so it ends.  The frost this morning caused the leaves of our zinnias to wilt and turn dark green, a sure sign that this will be the end of flowers in the garden for this year.  Luckily, Andy picked a last bouquet yesterday and brought them in to liven up our window sill.  

The flowers have been especially beautiful this year.  We planted both zinnias and coreopsis in our flower field.  The deer ate every coreopsis as it emerged as a green seedling.  Amazingly, they left the zinnias alone...until a few weeks ago.  One night they browsed every single zinnia bud.  Just nipped them off clean to the stem.  The blooms they left untouched.  They are fussy eaters for sure.

I am sorry to see the flowers end this year.  Being home more has been a pleasure since our garden has kept us busy.  We have had more green peppers than we could use.  Tomatoes by the bucket full.  Lots of okra  And other good veggies.  Our lettuce is still hanging in there.  But the days are numbered for much that we have left.  The last lonely cucumber was kind of pathetic.  It looked a little lumpy and pale, but it did taste good.

We are already planning on what we will plant next year.  What we will try and what we might pass over.  Some things  do really well for us.  And some are just a lot of trouble for too much work.

As the nights get longer and the days chillier we can look forward to what might happen in the spring.  Winter will coat the garden place with frost and snow.  The wind will blow the last remnants of the bean vines and  whisk away the leaves left on the tomato bush.  And as the earth sleeps we will dream of spring and summer...good things to eat and the pleasure of seeing them grow.   

 

The Good Old Days

Seems like a thousand years ago.  Andy and I would add a little extra kick to the Jessie Polka.  No strain.  Just see how high we could go.  Usually we did this in front of the band. We wanted to see if we could get the fiddler to miss a lick when we hollered and got his attention.  It was fun.  Just the best kind of fun you can have.  

This picture was taken at the Taney Center near Taneyville.  They had the best dance floor around.  Lots of our friends from Taney and Douglas County would come to dance and enjoy the great music that Bob Holt played with the band.  We thought it would go on and on forever.  But, just as most things, it came to an end.  

The road to the dance was rough and windy.  Anyone who travels that part of 160 highway knows you have to be careful around those curves or you might end up wound around a tree or headed down into a dark and wooly ravine. But it was a pleasure to take off after work on a Saturday night and make that drive.  We knew that friends and good music would make it all worthwhile.

Usually the floor was full of sets when we did a square.  Sometimes there was a two-step or a polka, but mainly Bob played a fast and furious fiddle tune that kept us moving until we gave out.  What a great memory that is.  

The band would take a break about half way through the dance.  But before they did,  the jig dancers would request a tune to jig too.  Oh my!  It was time to show-out, that's for sure.  I can close my eyes and see so many of my friends dancing away, feet moving at lightning speed, heels and toes clicking to the ever increasing beat of the  music.  We all needed a break after that.

Taney Center dance is gone.  I can't kick high when I do the Jessie Polka.  The square dances are few and far between now.  Many of our partners are gone.  

I love seeing the pictures from those years that have so swiftly gone.  I can close my eyes and hear Bob playing Ninth of January or Black Mountain Rag.  I can imagine the clicking of taps on the floor as we swoop and swing and smile.

But I keep these memories in my heart and in my mind and know that for us those were the best of days...and best of nights.  Kicking high, moving to the constant beat of the fiddle.  The good old days for sure.