Reunion=Country Ham

The annual family reunion here at the old homeplace draws nigh.

Not only do folks look forward to visiting, but everyone, I think, looks forward to the country ham that my parents always  prepare.

It's slow food at its best...local pork, rubbed with a salt/sugar seasoning back in the winter, then set aside to absorb the flavors for months, even years.

Mom's special glaze and baked til it's tender.

You can't buy this treat in a restaurant. That's why we look forward to it all year long!

Above, the cows on the farm encourage us to "Eat more pork!"  

Sweet summer evening

"I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world." George Washington 

It was over too soon.  

A day at home, with nowhere else I had to be. 

I weeded a flower bed, planted flowers, mowed, trimmed, picked vegetables-then prepared them. Lots of good honest work. That's how I relax best.   

I even had time to sit down for an hour or so with a favorite magazine and my journal.  To top it all off, a long walk through the cow pasture where I found views like this.  The photo absolutely doesn't do the actual view justice, of course.  

Not only did my camera not catch the color in the sky, but it cannot capture the smell of summer blooms, the chorus of heat bugs, and the buzz of mosquitoes flying around my ears.  

Ah, the simple pleasures of a sweet summer evening. 

Aren't these gorgeous?  After wading through the mud and muck for the past few days, these hot colors do a soul good.

Snow fog?

Note the fog rising from the coves. That's not unusual on a drizzly day, but the fog rising from the snow-covered ground is something I don't remember ever seeing before.

Spooky!

Snow makes everything a work of art.