Our Country Garden, Country Supper and Slamming Screen Doors......I Have TWO of Them!

 Louis Dean is so proud of his patch of black eyed peas! 

Never mind that they are planted so thick that you can't walk between them. He intends to pick peas tomorrow or Saturday and he's as excited as he can be. I picked what I hope is the last of the purple hulled peas this evening. Grasshoppers are everywhere and they are eating them so aggressively that I lieterally had to pull them off some of the good looking peas I wanted!

It looks like we are going to have a lot of watermelons in the near future.

They start off looking like fuzzy pickles!

I am not from a farming, gardening, or rural background so I am fascinated to see how things grow.

My siblings and I were inner city kids and only went to the country to visit relatives. I stayed out in west Texas with my Aunt Irene for part of one summer and our Aunt Viola took all four of us to Harper, Texas for a week one summer. I've always admired country life but never dreamed I would be living it myself one day - thanks to the hospitality of Dean and Sherry!

I love everything about being in the country!

And I love that we get to spend time with family.

Dean and Sherry came down to supper tonight.

I cooked steaks on our new propane grill for the first time!

It has a side butner which comes in handy down here since I only have a hot plate and an electic skillet.

There's a small stove inside the camper - but it's way too hot to turn that thing on in there!

Buttered onions to top the steaks.

I roasted a couple of Hatch chili peppers, too and that was good on the baked potatoes.

I bought a bag of fancy veggies at HEB and they were good.

Watermelon and cantaloupe from our garden!

Blueberries from HEB.

Sherry brought down baked potatoes and those delicious tiny tomatoes!

AND she brought PIE!

SOOOOO good!!

We ate outside on the deck - I had pulled all the vines away from the picnic table and strung them out on the grass or tossed them up on the fence. It was nice to eat and visit together.

Dean's shoulder has been hurting him and Sherry has to work tomorrow so they went on home to put up the goats and so critter chores.

Louis Dean and I sat out and enjoyed the last few minutes of the Golden Hour.

We start and end our country days here on the deck that faces east....well, east is to the right.

We don't sit square here.

Louis Dean did the dishes while I went back to my art.

I took this picture in December 2014 or 2015 on my front porch.

It is Kailey and Logan and we had been out walking in the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights.

This favorite photo will become a Christmas painting and I am hoping to finish it by then!

Small things take me so much longer to paint than large canvases. 

I only have one more session on this one for Grandson Levi.

It will be finished when I come back in September.

Off and all - all day today - I have been thinking about our two screen doors for some reason.

This red one was the first thing I bought when we talked about adding a room on to the camper.

By adding a room - it's actually right next to the camper and connected by guttering and covered by the big red roof. But that red screen door started it all and is the reason I use so much red here. It was a city wide garage sale here in Mart and the door costs $40. It was used but in such good shape and I loved it then and I love it still.

The other screen door is red also but it's a new one from Home Depot that I painted red.

I love to hear them slapping shut behind me as I go in and out.

When the cats are here with us, I am more careful about closing the door instead of letting it slam shut. Tabitha and Samantha can make a quick escape outside in the time it takes the door to shut.

I've been missing them!

We go home Monday and I will be picking them up after the kids get out of school on Tuesday.

And we all know what Wednesday is!

September First!!

Amen!

Goodnight from the country!