Spring sweetness

One of the sweetest joys of spring is when I first get to eat some sweet peas! I always try to plant some in my garden; they can be planted before most other vegetables when it's still quite cool, and then are among the very first things to harvest. That's a good thing by itself.

This year, I didn't do well in getting peas planted. There were just too many things going on, there was too much rain when I had free time, etc. However, my brother is watching out for me; Keven Stratton brought me a large bag of fresh-picked peas that has kept me very happy!

But my appreciation runs deeper than that. I have distinct memories from my early childhood of my Dad having a great love for peas. I remember one year that there was a field planted with peas just to the south of our house, and he was very happy about it. My memory is that it was fairly large, so I assume he had enough to sell commercially; but I also remember him eating lots of them, and that I picked some once and shelled them for him because I knew he liked them so much. So, every time I eat some fresh peas, I feel a connection to my dear father!