Popcorn Ramblings

This year the popcorn grows tall.  The sugar pie pumpkins stretch to extend their boundaries.  Burning orange as the days shorten.  Unkempt apple trees laden with disfigured fruit but hungry for chicken appetizers hang low.  The August tomatoes, usually slow growing and moisture barren, are this year bursting their skins.

And the UPS man comes delivering packages.  School books.  New red embroidered uniform tops and jackets.  Sneakers, an extra size big, requested after shoe shopping this past week. Reading material for enjoyment... "chicken coops," "easy concrete," "easy to build birdhouses: a natural approach".  Our UPS man has been busy.  Hundreds of pounds of beehives and equipment.  Honey bottles and buckets.  "Local Honey Sold Here" sign.

And still it rains.

We could use a week or so of sunshine and dry weather.  The potatoes need unearthing.  The beans need harvesting.  The plump and ripening blackberries need picking.  And the bees need flowers. 

But the popcorn grows tall.  It's at least 7 feet with two long thin cobs at the 36 inch level.  No sign of raccoon or deer dinners either.  "That's the tallest popcorn I've ever seen," said a gentleman this past weekend.  Perhaps the corn loved the former orchard nutrients.  Or perhaps yellow popcorn just happens to be taller.  I don't know. But the popcorn saga has been much more pleasant this summer.  Two months 'til harvest.

"That's going to be a big harvest," the gentleman added.  I tried to encourage him and others to volunteer for the great popcorn picking.... they could each take one row.  Except that there are at least thirty rows and there were only six of them.  "But it would make short work of it." I added.  "Ha!" he laughed, "Indeed it would."  But no offers were forthcoming.  Perhaps if I made popcorn....

Today's Journey Joy - popcorn and our UPS man