The Parsley Project

"October" sounds like fall to me but there's not much color in the yard.

The Blue Dogwood leaves are slowly turning,

and the Hackberry is showing some yellow. That's about it, for now.

A frost was predicted earlier in the week. My niece, two counties to the southeast, had a hard frost and her tomato garden is done. We covered the herbs, greens, and roots and everything survived.

I pulled the curly parsley this morning,
dehydrated it in a cool oven,
and dry packed it in mason jars.
I'll throw handfuls of summer into winter soups.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We lost Bokka last Monday, September 28, after a short illness.

It was hard to do yard work when Bokka was outside. Whenever we picked up a stick, she thought it was playtime. In her younger days, she was fearless about jumping into the river to chase a stick or ball. More recently, she would sometimes disappear and we'd find her wading in the pond. The water must have felt soothing to her old bones. She loved back rubs and belly rubs equally. We had to be very careful saying "treat" or "ride" -- unless we planned to follow through.

Bokka was loving and loyal and we miss her awfully. I don't know one way or another about an afterlife for humans, but I'm certain that Bokka is chasing balls, wading in warm ponds, and swimming across clean rivers. . . somewhere.