Four things I love enjoying during the summer are: kayaking, tomatoes, fishing, and nature. They seemed to go hand in hand this summer as we took off on our adventures.

We usually don’t take vacations in early June, but did this year, primarily because the COVID world cancelled our prior trips of 2020. We have been fishing and kayaking here and there.

I thought I’d share just a couple photos of things I did during some “me time,” in between tending to plants and my container gardens.

Kayaking!

First, I absolutely love kayaking. It connects me with nature and the sounds of nature. We were fortunate to be invited to kayak with friends on a tidal fed river. It was so serene. I love being below the huge marsh grasses, following the path, and seeing the birds along the way.

Birds!

The birds are usually around the corner and stand there watching us float by. I like the fact they are not too afraid of us, unless you get super close, then they fly off. We got off at points where the water was low enough to walk on very soft mud and sand. It kind of felt like a mud foot massage!

Fishing…Well, what do I know about fishing? Not much, I’m an amateur, but I enjoy casting out over and over again. It is so relaxing. As a kid, I would fish outback behind my parents property on the Scantic River. Yes, I did hunt for worms at night with a flashlight with my brother in those days, but worms – yuck. I stick to fishing lures now. For 2 years, I caught absolutely nothing but this year, I’ve been lucky a few times and caught largemouth bass fishing from my kayak. In this photo, we went to a pier before kayaking for the day, and I didn’t catch anything but fresh air and sunshine, and enjoyed every moment.

Tomatoes!

Is this the most amazing tomato cage setup you’ve ever seen?! I love it – our friend built this for his tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. I’m in awe of it also because of the scenery behind it. Can you imagine?

We also kayaked by North Myrtle at a location called Cherry Grove. It was with a tour group and this gave us a wonderful introduction to this area. Again, despite hearing a golf course lawn mower on part of the path, it was absolutely beautiful, calm, and relaxing. I especially like when we come upon wild life, turtles, birds, and an occasional fish jumping out of the water.

And here on am on the 4th of July weekend, which was mostly wet and raining. I was doing my best to try to convince myself rain does not matter, let the festivities continue. It has been very wet for my tomatoes this year in Connecticut, they were growing perfectly, but the soil has gotten water logged, yet they have many green tomatoes on them, but I am waiting to see how the ripening process will go this summer. In the meantime, I just keep trying to enjoy moments in the summer. I hope you are too.

Happy Friday,

Cathy Testa
Container Garden Designer
Tomato freak – grew 400 tomatoes this year.
Kayaking lover
Nature lover
Fishing Amateur
860-977-9473
containercathy@cathytesta