Visitors in the garden

We had a wonderful contingent of visitors last weekend from these folks.

And also these people.


We knew they were approaching our house when we heard the rumbling of their cycles. Soon we saw this.

Husband and I were so excited to welcome Jimmy, Sandy, daughter Sharon, and her son Zac. They arrived late Friday afternoon in the rain, all decked out in their rain suits. By Saturday, it was very hot, no rain, and we were able to have a fun-filled day. Lots of friends joined us, I grilled out, we swam, we talked, we baked in the sun, we had an absolute great time. They even got me a little tipsy from the Australian white wine our friends brought. The only downside was that daughter and her family were unable to join in the early 4th of July celebration because Little One was running a temperature and they decided to stay home. Oh, well.

Our guests stayed until Sunday morning and then got ready to leave.

Of course it was raining -- again -- so they donned their rain gear

And planned their route

Sharon, leading the pack out of our driveway

Followed by Sandy, who was trying to catch up to Sharon and Zac

We all had a wonderful weekend, despite a few little glitches. We ate plenty of good food, shared some good memories, shared some good laughs, looked at some old family photos, and watched a very funny movie which was all about stopping to smell the roses before it's too late.

Husband and I were looking forward to lots of red, ripe tomatoes from our garden to serve to our guests. I kept checking the garden in the days before they arrived but could not find any. Husband had planted more than a dozen plants -- Early Girl's, Rutgers, Roma's, and Sugar Sweet cherry tomatoes. We were disappointed to say the least.

Early Girl Tomatoes

After our guests left, we discovered some half-eaten green tomatoes lying on the ground and animal tracks in and around the garden. Ah ha, I said. Now I know why we have no tomatoes. Mr. or Mrs. Deer has been coming to the organic vegetable market and having a feast every night. This fellow has even been eating the new shoots from our Kentucky Pole Beans! Yesterday, as we walked around and checked the garden again, we found little piles of deer poop and more tracks.

Around 3:30 this morning, I decided to go out on the deck to see what I could see. I wrapped up in a blanket and sat out there (freezing my tootsies) for more than 45 minutes. But our deer was a no-show.

At least we know they are eating good produce. Meantime, we have found a nice Amish family that has an organic vegetable market. Got lots of yummy veggies from him last week and plan to continue to visit on a weekly basis to fill in what Mr. Deer is eating out of our garden.

We love having visitors. So all visitors to our garden are welcome, whether they are two-legged or four-legged. If you're in our neck of the woods, stop by any old time. Our door is always open to those we love.