Day 162 of 365

My husband doesn't have a cell phone. I have one, my daughter has one, but he doesn't.

There are several reasons why. He doesn't drive so he doesn't leave in a car without me (and my phone) going with him. He works here in town where we don't have a strong cell phone signal. When he is at work, he has a phone in his classroom in case he needs to make a call or in case we need to call him.

Today when I was at work I received a call on my cell phone that made me wish he had a cell phone.

Since the caller wasn't able to get a hold of him, I then had to turn around and call my husband and relay the message to him - over the phone - while he too was at work. I called his classroom, but he wasn't there. I had to redial his school's number so I could have them call him over the intercom.

I never have him paged. Ever. The important message I had to tell him?

His mother passed away this morning.

In her sleep. The way she wanted to go.

She was big into flowers. In fact, when we got married, she picked peonies from her garden (during the first week of June) and kept them in the back of her refrigerator to use at our July 28th wedding. The peonies looked just-picked (as opposed to 6 weeks old).

I think she would have liked today's picture of our butterfly bush.

Day 161 of 365

Finally.

Not finally, I have a job. Or finally, my daughter will be home next week to help us get some work done, or finally, my house is clean.

Nope. None of the above.

But, finally something is being harvested from the garden.

Not just any old vegetable. We've already been through the radishes, the peas, the spinach, and the arugula. We've harvested kale, cabbage, and broccoli. We enjoy tomatoes, bell peppers, and hot peppers almost every day. Zucchini is being picked almost daily and red potatoes are being dug every couple days. Pumpkins are orange.

Nope, this vegetable is the one I've been waiting on more than any other. (Actually, the potatoes might be tied for my number one vegetable.)

On Day 64 we planted it.

On Day 82 I cheered it on, hoping it would grow faster.

But right here, right now I finally picked some. My most favorite vegetable in the world. And these two ears just happened to be the most tender corn in the world. (Probably not, but it sure tasted like it.)