Every summer goes by faster as one ages. It’s astonishing that we are already at the fair week. I must say Tuesday’s rain brought out the traffic in spades. It was difficult to maintain a cheerful attitude. I confess I thought of George Carlin a few times. He said people who drive faster than him are maniacs and those who are slower are idiots. I hear that.

I was enjoying my coffee in a lawn chair last week—simply watching the sprinkler go back and forth. A hummingbird was darting in and out of the mist. Life is wonderful. On Clevelandtown Road around Bittersweet Farm a house has a lovely hedge of P.G. hydrangeas interplanted with very tall Russian sage. Some of the huge white blossoms are changing to a beautiful pale pink. Worth a trip down that road.

Be cautious, however, near the Road to the Plains. The road narrows and a very sharp curb can take out your tires. Personal experience rules my life and everything I’ve ever mentioned.

Some years ago, I purchased some gladiolus bulbs. I planted in the spring and dutifully lifted them in the fall for winter storage.

I promptly misplaced and forgot them. However, the few I missed in the bed have come back reliably every year since. There you have it.

For fun, I planted some sugar beets. I probably thought I would make some sugar—as if. Anyway, they grew into enormous roots—pure white. I chopped a few into small pieces, sautéed in oil and balsamic vinegar. They were incredibly sweet and actually a big hit with my beet-hating family. They throw words like purple dirt around. We decided they would be great in chicken salad. Hopefully I’ll make some soon.

We are particularly fond of cabbage in our family—both cooked and raw. Hence, I grow quite a few varieties. We polished off most of the Early Jersey Wakefields and are waiting for the Brunswicks to get bigger. I picked a Savoy last night and chopped it for a salad. It was so much milder than most cultivars. Also it is beautiful growing. It has huge crinkly blue-green leaves.

In the perennial beds, we’ve been busy removing bottom unattractive leaves, dead-heading and planning ahead for fall dividing and planting. I have both irises and hostas in desperate need of division. I hate when irises develop a big hole in the center. They are screaming to turn into at least four new plants.

I cannot really comment about last weekend’s events in Charlottesville, Va. It is so sad and depressing that we’ve come to this as a country in 2017. It is so amazing that white (mostly) men think they are getting a raw deal. It has worked out very well for them since the founding fathers made policy.

I remember an interview with Jon Stewart on the Bill O’Reilly Show. Jon tried his best to point out to O’Reilly that living in government-supported Levittown in the fifties was an economic boon to him and all his white neighbors. The inexpensive mortgages enabled those families to send their children to college. An entire generation of boomers benefited—the white ones, that is.

When Social Security came into being in the 1930s, Southern Democrats in Congress made sure certain occupations were excluded—i.e., farm workers and domestic help. Guess who was denied? Now, people with the same mindset want to get rid of affirmative action. They see the undeserving minorities ripping off hard-working whites.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but for Pete’s sake—the golden rule? Wait! There’s more. Robert E. Lee was a traitor and by the way he lost!