Farewell to the tomatoes and the cucumbers …There will be no more sad stories of how many buckets I picked that day. The vines are all gone. I gave the last of the green tomatoes and cucumbers to my sister, Vickie, who made green tomato chutney and cucumber relish with them. I cooked up the last of the red tomatoes but, somehow, missed this guy so I decided to immortalise him. There is one cucumber left and he is about to go in the bin. We are having commercial pizza tonight.
Farewell to the Doc who has decided to put down his pen and blog no more. All the very best, Doc. I hope you and Sandee remain well.
Blogging is time-consuming and demanding with, to be honest, very little tangible reward. I decided to do it because I like to take photos, love playing with Photoshop and, for some reason, needed some impetus to take photos. What better way than to start a food and gardening blog (which are my other interests)? That way, I would have to take photos. It has worked . My little Canon Photoshop G6 has been flat-out since I started. I am no great shakes at any of these so I don’t really know what made me think I would be good at blogging but, of course, we don’t have to be good at things to have fun.
And farewell to Maus and me!! Well, bon voyage, really. We leave on our long anticipated holiday tomorrow. All going well, we will be back mid-July. We are hoping that Lebanon stays safe and does not get any more entwined in Syria’s war. War is no good to anyone.
The preparation for this holiday has taken so much work. It is amazing how many things you have to organise just to leave the country. It is doubly worse for us with two houses to clean (we are not the best of housekeepers usually), three dogs to wash and clip and cook for, and produce to pick and process.
We picked 215 kilos of olives which reaped 36.5 litres of oil. We picked for three days. I have frozen all the pomegranates seeds (I didn’t have time to do anything else) but, alas, the lemons remain on the trees.
We have been so busy which that is why there has been a reduction in the number of posts recently.
When we come back, there will be weeding and pruning the roses, setting up the second vegie patch and painting our fence in Perth. It never stops, does it?
Thanks to Vickie, Eric, Sandra and Merle for looking after Maggie, Lily and Jules. Looking after someone else’s dog is burden enough but when there are three and one has recently had a cruciate ligament operation, the burden is manifold. Thank you so much.
Anyway, see you all in July. Please return. If you haven’t subscribed but check out the blog from time to time, now is a good time. That way, you will get notification when I get back (lucky you) 🙂 .
Passion Fruit Garden 
How was the Middle East? Looking forward to hearing…blog so you only have to tell us all once..I have just finished pruning my roses…just as well I love them…my animals are all good- fat but good..hope Vicki coped with the pups- which one had the cruciate done, not jULES again..best wishes, Alyson
Hi Al We are back, travel stories to come. Maggie had one leg done just before we went away.
Welcome home Glenda! Eager to hear all about your adventures (are you a ‘tell all’ kind of gal?) – but first take a deep breath and spend about a week or two relaxing before doing anything else. Bet you’re glad to be back!
Hi Doc, We are so glad to be home!! We had a great time and bought lots of stuff. I am not really a tell-all type person. I figure travel adventures are not really interesting to others. Travel photos are worst still but I might try to find a few interesting ones.
Hope you have a fantastic and safe journey 🙂
Hi Tandy we are back. Thanks for the wishes.
Have a great Holiday Glenda, hope to read more of you blog when you get back. May be some good photos from Lebanon. Especially of Gardens, and plants and vegetables that we don’t see here and yummy recipes. I love reading and learning from your sight and other sights as well. From James and Julie xo
Hi James and Julie Thanks for the wishes. We will have a great time.
Have a great holiday and hope to see your pictures and hear some wonderful stories on your return. I will add your blog to my reader so I know when you are back, I am very disorganized about such things so thanks for the reminder. Travel safe and stay well 🙂
Thank you so much Joanna. I am sure there will be pictures galore 🙂
Safe travels Glenda, you’ll have a ball in Lebanon! And how lucky for that sole tomato, dry it, keep the seeds and start again with your second veggie patch 😉 I know you want to!! Ok, maybe, I want you too, I’ll kind of miss your tomato posts hehe
Hi Lisa. We ate the tomato 😦 I can’t wait to eat everything in Lebanon.
I was beginning to think that you lived in the land of never-ending gardens! I bet you feel a good deal of relief now that it’s done – I think I would.
Do you enjoy planning for your travel adventures? For me, that’s the best part – I often come home disappointed, since it’s so easy for a trip to not measure up to my expectations – only after I’ve been home awhile do I begin to get a sense of belated enjoyment.
OK, I’ll stop now, since I may be dampening your travel joys. Hey, we really do wish you guys great travel vibes – I’m sure you’ve got all your good eats plans well made – hope you enjoy the hell out the trip. We’ll be waiting expectantly to hear all about it.
Hi Doc, I love the idea of travelling, travelling is not so much fun :).
Of course you are good at blogging – why would you think otherwise. Have a wonderful holiday, with all that fabulous Lebanese food … I look forward to your blogging return. Jenny
Thankyou so much Jenny. I am so looking forward to the food!!
Have a fabulous time, ladies! We’ll miss you! Take lots of photos, and G, see if Maus will let you bring home a sorj! 🙂 xx
Thanks for the wishes Celia. It may be too big for my day pack!
Travel safely and have a wonderful time, I look forward to hearing all about it.
Thanks so much Sue.
Have a wonderful holiday.
Thanks Anne
Hi Girls
Have a wonderful time in Lebanon and Portugal and please stay safe so we can see your smiling faces again. Looking forward to hearing all about your trip when you return. Give the babies a kiss from us and remember if you need us for them we are here.
Thankyou so much Gail. My babies are already at Vickie’s. She assures me they will be fine.