A report on my pitiful garden and some book reviews. Take it or leave it.

Yesterday we received over three inches of rain, for which I am thankful.  We've had some well-timed rainfall this year; the rains come just as I'm about to give up and water my now weedy garden.  I've had disappointments out there, but there have been small victories.  Many of my first plantings didn't come up, for no reason I know of.  Just when the tomatoes started to ripen, blight spread on the three plants, but we've certainly had plenty of tomatoes for the past couple of weeks, as well as green beans, some rather puny sweet peppers, and cucumbers.  Today I brought in enough sweet corn for a meal, so there's that.

The whole table was practically covered in tomatoes yesterday, so I froze three quarts of tomatoes to use in my next three batches of spaghetti sauce.  The five okra plants are beginning to produce, and I have second plantings of green beans coming along.  I sowed some turnip seeds in a bare spot of the garden, but that three inches of torential rainfall we got may have washed them all away.  Now there is a huge chance of rain for the next three days.  The Japanese beetles seem to eat every growing thing in sight.  Sevin Dust kills them for a day or two, then a new army of them shows up for a feast. 

If you didn't read my previous blog entry, the book I pictured there is absolutely great.  It's G-rated, too!  It may be difficult to find, since it doesn't seem to be well-known.  I check out e-books from two libraries:  I normally use Mid-Continent Library because they have a larger selection; they did not have The  in any form.  So I found a hard copy of "The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee" at one of the several libraries that are part of the group "Trails Regional".  I very seldom buy books, so had our library not had that one lonely copy, I would not have had the privilege of reading this book.  I wonder if it's out of print, since even Abebooks.com didn't have a reasonably-priced used copy of it.

I finished the psychological thriller "The Silent Patient"; it didn't scare me even a little bit, and was somewhat predictable... with a surprising twist at the end; don't waste your time on it.  But the book I'm reading now is a treasure; this is my second day reading it, and I'm over halfway through.  It's one I won't forget for years, if ever.  Believe me when I tell you that you need to read "American Dirt".  Cliff finished "Educated" and seemed to share my enthusiasm for the book.  He always makes me find his next book on the iPad because it's just more "computing" than he wants to mess with.  Most of the books I check out for myself have to be on hold for awhile before I read them, so I always need to find him something that can be checked out instantly, I looked at the 2017 New York Times Best Seller List and found one that sounds good, "The Life We Bury".  I also put "American Dirt" on hold for him.  While waiting for my next hold, I may read the one I checked out for him as well.  It sounds interesting, and unlike anything else I've read.

That's all I have... gardening and book reports.  Take it or leave it.

Yours truly,

Donna