A number of times I have wondered where the time goes, then sometimes I wonder why I let it slip away.

My days and hours seem short these days, my time passes quickly and easily through my fingers like handsful of water.

As I look around my house, I can see visual signs of my life slipping away. Things are not put away where I would like, jobs are undone and the yard is only partially mowed.

This week will have to bear down and get some stuff done. But I was supposed to do that last week, it just didn’t materialize. No matter. We can’t change the past, but the present is almost in our control and the future is at least open to influence.

The grass on the bank behind the house keeps calling out for attention, but it must not be calling loud enough. With temperatures in the 90s, it’s easy to not hear it’s plea for attention. Even so, I’ll be out there one night this week with the string trimmer and lawnmower, dread it though I do. If I weren’t cutting grass, I’d be cutting wood, so there’s no need to blame the seasons.

My garden has started looking more like a jungle than a garden these days, another visual sign of the time slipping away.

The potatoes, once masters of their domain, are now being encroached upon by the wildly spreading tomatoes.

Stuck in between are my poor peppers, barely able to peep out in between the two behemoths.

However, taking over on the other side of the tomatoes are the cucumbers, which are climbing everything in their path. I have cucumbers spread out so widely that it is difficult to walk among them to pick them. They are also trying to climb up the corn on one side and the tomatoes on the other. I keep pulling the plants back and trying to keep them in a row, but it isn’t easy. I know I will be doing my best next year to put up a few panels of fence wire for them to climb before they get this far along.

I also hope to get my tomatoes in their cages sooner and to get my rows spaced out better.

It’s all going to get better next year, I just know it. Isn’t optimism great? Sadly, I am a realist. I know the garden likely will improve due to this year’s experiences, but I am just as likely to be short on time at key moments next year as I am this year.

The only thing I wouldn’t change at all is the corn. It is growing tall and proud on the upper end of my garden, with full ears in sight already. In just a few weeks, I figure the silks will start turning dark and I will be able to start eating my first ears of garden fresh corn. It’s hard to beat.

I still haven’t harvested a tomato that was big enough for a sandwich. My plants are up to six feet tall and covered with green tomatoes, but those are a bit tart for a sandwich. I do have a few of those little grape tomatoes coming in ripe, but the last time I tried to slice up enough for a sandwich, it ended up being somewhat comical. Slicing seven tomatoes for a sandwich is hardly sensible, especially when the tomatoes are smaller than tommy-toes to start with.

But it will all come in due time. I have recently dug up a few new potatoes and cooked them for supper. New potatoes are another of the treats that most people don’t have access to if they don’t have a garden. These were bigger than baseballs, so I am figuring on a good crop this year.

Squash is also growing in great numbers, covering its plant with yellow delicacies. Fried, steamed or grilled, it tastes just fine.

At least I’ve had time to pick the squash and cucumbers, although a few cukes hid on me and I found one of them after it had already turned orange and swollen up like a football. That’s what you get when your cucumbers climb into the tomatoes. Folks, don’t try this at home. Be a responsible gardener.

Maybe it’s time I learned to only get out the portion I can eat in one sitting, a lesson my parents tried to teach me many years ago. All I can do now is keep trying to clean my plate.

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