Good ole' Tomato Sandwich

Fresh off the vine

and

on the table!

Just nothing like a homegrown

tomato!

I ask my dear friend to send me a picture of her homegrown tomatoes right off the vine,

and

as soon as I saw it

I could feel my mouth watering!

Oh my goodness

all I could think of

was a

good ole' tomato sandwich

with white bread

mayo, salt and pepper.

I could smell the sunshine

and

the tomato itself

and

before you knew it

I was just about drooling!

That's the thing about Florida

tomatoes just don't taste that great

unless you can find them at a produce stand

with a stamp on the carton

that says

GEORGIA!

and

only then you can believe it

if you can smell the tomatoes

before you arrive and see them.

It's if you know before your eyes

see that they are real

grown from real dirt and tended to with care.

they are the kind that are juicy when bitten into

and

oh my what taste.

Of course

we cannot leave out

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!!!

Again my mouth drools with the thoughts of that... If you haven't tried them, you must~

Delicious they are, and rather addictive I must add.

Speaking of Fried Green Tomatoes,

have you seen the movie?

I think perhaps it is time to see it again;

a movie that is worthy of seeing every few months I'm thinking it ranks high in my book...

I might just have to work in seeing it myself this weekend now that I've brought it to the frontal lobe of my brain! LOL 

I spoke with a pal out in Wisconsin who proudly told me she had just picked her first tomato of the year, and safely carried it inside.

I asked her as I was riding in a car to the airport if she was preparing for a

tomato sandwich!

She said she had never had

"just" a tomato sandwich before;

but

loved a BLT or just bacon and tomato!

I was actually speechless for a moment,

thinking

someone had never had a real

honest to goodness

old fashioned tomato sandwich on white bread?

How could this be?

So with great detail I stopped talking about my day of speaking in FT Worth

and the venue

as she is my contact for that engagement;

and

instead changed the topic

to the details of

a home-made

mouth watering

tomato sandwich!

Oh the wonderful memories it evoked

and

with great detail I described the biting into that sandwich and the tomato juice that just squirts out and down your chin!

I'm sure the driver thought me quite weird or starving by the time our conversation ended

since it began with

how some people are just to rude

to be allowed in public!

I find it wonderful  how folks still garden for relaxation while enjoying the first sightings of the fruits of their labor;

the first bean, squash, tomato.

the care that goes into planting in soil, or in pots if the soil is not just quite right

or the terrain to rough.

Perhaps the person is not physically well enough to till the land like they once did

so

they find ways to best use pots and

forearm crutches to tamp the soil and drop the seedlings

then enjoy watching sun/water/care

grow into amazing

flowers and food to nurture and sustain

and

make your mouth just water

as

you think of how doggone good it will taste!

Often it might evoke memories of childhood

and those great times

of sneaking into the garden

with the salt shaker

and hiding out there

while taking those tomatoes right off the vines

and wiping them clean with your sleeve!

then just taking a great big bite

thinking it just may be heaven right there on the spot, right then and there the best thing you ever put in your mouth.

This is a great time of the year to eat salads; I had a remarkable spinach salad last night... the textures and flavors were worthy of lingering over as we talked and shared stories and good times.

I had to share the story of Kamryn going out to a restaurant and proudly and politely ordering a salad and letting the server know that he "wanted a salad please with tomatoes, croutons, cucumbers".

When it arrived he was aghast that there was NO lettuce in the salad!

He just was astounded and then the server said,

"Sir you did not request lettuce"

We almost fell out of our chairs by the look on Kamryn's face as he said,

"All salads have lettuce, of course I wanted lettuce"!!!

That boy does love to eat, and both he and Olivia have loved tomatoes the little ones,

Cherry Tomatoes since they could swallow!

They ate them like they were chocolate

and

Olivia had a tomato plant that could not quite produce as quickly as she could eat them off the vine!

So last year she planted two hoping they could keep up better!

Life is that way,

if we allow it to be.

Take a bite;

enjoy and savor it.

Sometimes take many bites, different flavors and mix the textures all at the same time!

ENJOY

always!

Just like a homegrown tomato

or a string bean

or

a freshly dug potato

that smells sweet like the earth

and once washed and cooked will nurture

and taste wonderful to the senses

while we can be amazed at all that was done to make sure it made it to our table.

I wish you enough,

a day of abundance

a day of blessings

in all that you do

in all that you see

and

dare to be.

NEWS FLASH:  a neighbor has made a positive ID on the arsonist of Sandy and STuarts' home and a warrant has been issued.

I know the world is round!!!

We here are very excited about this news.

They continue to work in the removal of soot and re-modeling of what is more and more to become their home again, now with the thought that perhaps justice will be done, we wait.

The fire is burning brightly, the sage is fired up, with thoughts on the winds to all

May you walk In Beauty,

DRSES

author of

Healing Heartaches, Stories of Loss and Life

www.drsherryeshowalter.com