In the shade of the tomatoes

It has been an unseasonably warm June here in central NC.  There has been no break from the heat as temps have remained in the high 90's....it's not August yet, don't we get a little bit of a break?  Heat and all, I have still had to pay my dues to the garden.  The two weeks of being out of service due to a back injury means two weeks worth of weed pulling and maintenance to catch up on.  Hubby has been helping with the weeding and picking beans but we rely heavily on my ability to work in the garden so he can manage other projects around here.  Not to mention my fingers were aching to get dirty and my body was ready to get moving again!

Now that my back in on the mend, I have my little stool (per my doctor's directions) and I sit in the garden and weed to my heart's content.  It has been no easy task over the last 3 days to weed the entire garden.  Although I am not quite done, I have made a dent in those lil' monsters.  With the high temps, the garden is almost unbearable after about 10am, so I have been getting an early start and working before the sun gets too high in the sky.

We have about 9 tomato plants in our garden and most of them are at least 4 feet tall now.  As I was weeding between the plants, I couldn't help but notice the shade they created, and in turn the cooler air in between the rows.  As I sat in there on my stool, I was brought back to memories of being a young child, visiting my grandparents at the old homeplace. 

My cousin H and I would play for hours in the corn field surrounding the homeplace.  On hot summer days, in the corn rows of granddaddy's garden, H and I would play a game while granddady watered the plants.  Our game was one of make believe....something along the lines of us being corn plants and when we were watered we would turn into lil' girls and run down the rows, but if we passed another open spot we become corn plants again, until we are watered again, and so the game would go on.   Granddaddy was always so sweet to play along, as he pretended he was watering his corn as he doused us with the cool water hose. 

Memories like these come back often while I work in the garden, reminding me of my roots and the things that are important to me.  This day was no different, and in the unbearable heat of the day there I was, dirt under my fingernails, a smile on my face, and a content feeling in my heart as I worked in the shade of the tomatoes.