The  city is left behind. I’m home and the first trip out to visit friends we see a porcupine in front of the house eating an apple falled from our old apple tree.

We had a delicious lunch of homemade tomato juice (with a few additions) carrot and parsnip soup, little chicken salad sandwiches and tiny fruit tarts. One of the best things about having a wonderful lunch at this house is having a tour of the vegetable garden before we leave. I took away a bag of bok choi, and 

Tuscan kale and wild kale.

I admired the last of the artichoke foliage. Can you believe there is a gardener skilled enough to grow artichokes on a high Massachusetts hill?  A bag was filled with leeks too. This will be Heavenly Soup and Bread Week at our house. Thank you Mary Kay and Earl.

Then it was back home. The porcupine was back too, but I don’t think he found the weeds and roses as tasty as the apples.