Golden Russets are the first variety to ripen in our little fruit orchard. They are sweet and a bit tart with a crunchier  texture than Granny Smith apples.

Here's the dream-boat Alton on the orchard ladder.

Both of our russet trees are weighed down with too many apples. We should have thinned them in the spring.

Pretty apples. This variety is the earliest to ripen.

Even in the evening it was very hot outside and Brenna was picking from the lower branches.

All the ripe apples are green with a pink blush on one side.

See how crowded?

We picked only about two bushels. There are plenty more on the two trees.

The spots of black wash off easily.

Our trees are four years old, I think. We also have Arkansas black and Granny Smith and Jonathans.

Workers must keep up their strength.

Our orchard ladder was a good investment. We got it for harvesting pears in fall.

Apples are pretty high in the grocery store. We hope these will keep well.

How cool it is to be able to pick fruit from the branches of a tree!

How Sweet!

The Hollis Table

My guests are Joshua and Christopher Crow and their brother Benjamin.

This is Benjamin. He was too hungry to pose like his brothers!

Flowers from the grocery store in Muskogee and a dinner of salad, mashed potatoes and baked ham.

I love flowers.

A fresh green summer salad is popular at the Hollis' table.

Livesay Orchard Peaches

Oh, what a wonderful way to spend a hot July morning--picking peaches at Livesay Orchards in Porter, Oklahoma! It is an experience to pluck those velvety orbs from the low hanging branches and lay them into the peach boxes. This little boy, Christopher Crow, was there for the first time. He was thrilled.

Brenna enjoyed reaching for the prettiest Glo-havens. The box filled too fast.

Aren't the peaches a pretty picture? They smelled sweet and sugary. We carried them to the car and added them to the boxes of White Queen's and a bushel of my favorite variety, Lorings, along with three fine stripped watermelons.

The melons thumped just nice and hollow when slapped with the palm of my hand. They had a yellow streak on the underside to show they were vine ripened and the rind felt bumpy promising to be sugary sweet inside.

My friend Joy Crow stayed in the shade wearing her straw hat. I often think I'll buy a hat for working out in the sun and then I think, "No, I'll just stay inside." It was still not one hundred degrees. The morning was nice only about 85, since we went early.

 

Back inside the peach barn, bushels of peaches are wheeled to  checkout and vehicles on sturdy black carts. This little girl was happy to get a ride on her momma's cart.

Melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, nectarines and plums were sold alongside jars of canned peaches, jams and jellies, pickles and salsa, preserves, and honey.

 Isn't Christopher cute?

We stopped at the grocery store afterward for my favorite Blue Bell home-style vanilla ice cream and after lunch and a swim in the backyard pool, we ate dishes of ice cream with sliced peaches on top. As my mother-in-law would have said, "It was a large day."

Creekside Cottage, Joplin

This weekend we celebrated our thirty-seventh anniversary with a trip to Missouri. We stayed at the Creekside Cottages, a bed and breakfast recommended to us by my sister Rebecca.

 It was a rustic and comfortable and peaceful place to stay. We enjoyed the creek from a porch that ran along the back and one side of the cabin. Trees grew through the porch and shaded it. You could fish from the porch.

We enjoyed the hammock, but it was hot out in the sun and I noticed how precarious the hammock was on the edge of the embankment and with some healthy poison ivy down  below.

Acorn cups showed us that squirrels were busy feasting in the oak trees. Wind blew hickory nuts loose and they smacked the roof and rolled "snickety-snackety"down and landed with a "plunk" in the creek.

Azalea Gardens Park

The azaleas are all finished blooming but the park is still full of flowers.

 Crepe Myrtle of all colors bloomed along the paths.

Ducks and Canada Geese waddled everywhere. It was raining and the visitors were sparse.

The waterfall is a shady place on the hillside which has always been a favorite play place for my children.

White crepe myrtle and bottle brush bushes bloomed along with Canna lilies.

Children had  deserted the playground equipment, but there were two teen girls running back and forth under the park's sprinkler fountain.

It was a drippy day and plenty hot, but my ride through the park was worth the time. The scent of these white blossoms was like a fine perfume.