A SANDWICH BY ANY OTHER NAME
                  TASTES AS SWEET! 
 

 Foraging in your garden to gather produce for an authentic summer sandwich you start with proper footwear .... long pants and Garden Boots to protect your feet and legs from marauding yellow jackets and wasps. Thanks for the boots Melissa!

 Long sleeve shirt and hat to keep the UV's from making cracks in you face.

I start foraging in my "Garden Nursery" and gather chard sprouting from two pots alongside squash, salvia, spinach and sweet peas. I could go out to the Big Garden for fresh lettuce .. but chard will do nicely.

 Fresh zucchini makes a delicious substitute for cucumbers ... cold cold and sliced ultra thin.

 My next stop is at the raised bed containing Amaranth, gladiolas, carnations and decorative grass. Picking red/green leaves and some flowers off the tallest Amaranth plant will help the smaller leaves at the bottom grow.

 Nasturtiums ... I call them Nasty Urtiums! But the name "nasty" doesn't suit them! They are delicous with a slight tang of horse radish ... ever so slight. Picking small tender nasturtium leaves and a handful of yellow and orange flowers will give pizazz to the sandwich ... being careful to avoid grabbing buzzing yellow jackets that also like the water droplets cupped inside the leaves and flowers.

 Now you construct your sandwich with slices of any favorite cheese, mayo on sour dough bread, sliced onions, and the garden ingredients ......and a pot of camomile tea steeping nearby. 
(Yes .. that's duct tape wrapped 
 around the handle of my Old Hickory knife!)

Now isn't this the sweetest sandwich ... worthy of serving to company or kicking back in my Prayer Chair for a wholesome, fresh picked, all natural lunch ... food the way God made it - no pesticides or harmful chemicals on the produce in our garden!

                                 Genesis 2:15 Then God took the man and put him in the garden
                                        of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
And by the sweat of our brow ... plenty of water and thinning/deadheading the plants in our garden - 
flowers and edibles - we are guaranteed wholesome and delicious salads and fresh produce throughout the rest of summer.

                             Enjoy the remaining lazy days of summer, 2018.

                                                          Vicki Rose Williams
                                          1957 - 2018

 I love paths.
Wide swaths, or narrow pathways of dirt or gravel ..... 








Or a stroll through a forest path, etched by foot traffic.

 A bench to rest upon on the way ....

 

 Destination ... daughter's house for coffee and Jesus meeting us to start the day.
                                       Over the meadow and through 
                                       the woods to Vicki's house I go ...

 The well worn path is now being given back to the forest ....

 the bench now sits empty, most of the time ..

A new path takes its place .... past the red barn and hammock ..

 

The new trail ....

Jack leading the way as he once did for Vicki

in the evenings when she walked the old path from my house to hers ... her guardian on the walk home.

 

On the new path, Jack is alert  .... a bear passed this way recently and left a tell-tale sign on the freshly stomped down dirt and pine needles leading to a recently cleared meadow .... and a new bench to rest upon. 

Vicki's bench, carved, sanded and protected from the elements by loving friends, sits between two raised flower beds. In spite of deer nibbling, carnations struggle to bloom .. Vicki's favorite flower. Forest flowers add to the beauty of late summer blooming

 Water ... pull weeds and pass my hand over the scripture on the bench.

"And you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring where waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11

And if I sit a spell ... close my eyes while opening my heart, I can hear Vicki say, "Hi Momma! Come sit .... Jesus will ease your sadness for I'm not here.. but with Him!"

 Some paths last but a short season ...
                       others lead to unexpected destinations ...
while our final path will lead to a Garden ... unimaginably beautiful that will never be untended or lack beauty. 
The Master Gardener will be there to greet us ... as will Vicki.
 .