Let that sink in!!
Today was the day of Tomatomania at Roger’s Gardnes, and we were ready for it, complete with Mary’s Tomatomania hat from last year.
But first, a quick stop by the audiologist to do a thirty-day check-up on our hearing aids. All went well, and we learned some new tricks. We can make them act as earbuds and adjust the levels by touching the tiny button behind our ears. The appointment took about 15 minutes, and we were off like a herd of turtles.
I turned on the new GPS and headed for Roger’s twelve minutes from Newport Beach. Mary and Robin were both giving me directions from their phones. Now I understand the importance of turning off the hearing aids!
The world’s largest (and most fun) tomato plant sale’ comes to Roger’s Gardens for the 12th year. Roger’s was a beehive of activities, with people filling their carts and making their selections from the mountains of tomatoes available.
Mary has her hat on, and I am ready to follow her and Robin around with the cart!
There were tomatoes everywhere, and several people were there to help and make suggestions. We talked to one fellow about our dirt in the garden, and he had some suggestions we will try.
The pictures and names were, to say the least, captivating! New names were popping up everywhere.
There are thought to be more than 3,000 varieties of heirloom or heritage tomatoes currently being grown globally and more than 15,000 known varieties in total.
Did You Know? When tomatoes were first introduced to Europe in the 16th Century, they were small, golden, and cherry-sized. This appearance gave them the name ‘golden apples’. Many European countries took this as inspiration and named them with gold names, such as the German ‘goldapfel’. The French were also convinced tomatoes were aphrodisiacs and named them “love apples.”
The Guinness World Record for “most tomatoes harvested from a single plant over one year” was 32,194 tomatoes harvested between May 2005 and April 2006, and the plant weighed 522.464 kg (1151.84 lbs)!
There were 200-plus varieties of tomatoes to select from.
There were the standard displays around the rest of the property, and Spring is definitely in the air!
They even had flowers!
Our cart was full, so the girls decided to push it up the hill. I kept hearing this, “I think I can, I think I can, choo choo,” as they slowly made their way to the cashier. Notice I did not follow them too close for fear the cart would come back down the hill at 67 miles per hour!
Our cart was loaded, and it took two to push it up the hill.
Not all tomatoes are red and round! We got three of these “tomatoes of the year” to try out in the garden. They all look interesting!
We studied the signs carefully.
The cart was loaded to the brim on both upper and lower shelves. We got tomatoes and found red, green, yellow, purple, brown, orange, and tan bell peppers. I can already taste the stuffed bell peppers this summer.
The cart was full! Mary kept saying, “Just one more, please!” and batted her eyes; what could I say?
Robin got the tomato bus together once again! We had quite a load and were happy we brought the van!
We now have kitchen towels to commemorate our visit.
We departed Roger’s and decided to go to the beach for lunch, so we wound up at Mary’s favorite, Duke’s Place, at the start of the Huntington Beach pier. We sat at the window overlooking the beach and a view of Catalina Island in the distance.
We munched on salads, and I did their burger while we watch the deranged and demented frolic in the freezing wind.
We ate lunch at Duke’s on the pier at Huntington Beach.
After lunch, the girls wanted to walk the pier. I made it halfway and decided to sit in the sun and warm up while they meandered down the pier. They discovered a new restaurant at the end and brought back tales of wonderful delights we needed to try next time.
Watch out for these two!
I guess I was crazy in my past when I was that young, but these kids were sans warm suits and were playing in the water with the air temperature cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey! My eyes shivered just looking at them. I buttoned up my jeans jacket and put my hands in the pockets, which were still numb!
It’s so cold outside the local flasher just described himself to me.
It’s so cold out that I saw a politician with his hands in his pockets.
I sat and watched the crazies as Mary and Robin went to the end of the pier.
When we arrived home, Mary got her little wheelbarrow and got my big one, and we headed to the car to empty its contents for the voyage to their final resting place; Casa Valencia Gardens. we are a team!
We unloaded when we got home.
I was proud of the new acquisitions!
There is a lot of work ahead of us!
We placed a few new tomatoes on the garden soil with their cages, but it was too cold to plant them just yet; that is tomorrow’s job.
This is as far as I got before I ran out of soil amendment; we still have fifteen more to go!
We waited for the arrival of Pete and Della. Pete, Lisa’s (Armstrong) father, wanted to bring us a rat house with poison as he heard we had a garden which means rats are nearby. Pete is German and speaks fluent German, and so does Mary, so they had a good time practicing their language skills!
We gave them the grand tour!
Yes, you guessed it, after Pete and Della’s departure, we headed to our favorite store, Home Depot. Mary went inside a shopped for velcro hanging devices while I filled a cart with raised bed organic amendment, two more bags of steer, and some fertilizer.
These bags were three cubic feet and were HEAVY! I got them only the cart with some effort. Then I went to the veggies and bought Mary three blooming strawberry plants in case her babies did not make it. I am definitely a softie.
I asked the store for help getting them into the van; I ran our of gas!
We barely had five minutes to spare before leaving for the Elks, it was Mardi Gras night, and they had southern on the menu! The gang was assembled, and Vicky was holding court, making everyone break out in chuckling, chortling, guffawing, giggling, tittering, sniggering, howling, convulsions, fits with her stories. Being her neighbor for thirty years, I had heard them before, but with Vicky’s animations, I found myself belly-laughing again!
The gang assembled at the Elks.
Someone was telling stories!
Vicky was holding court and making everyone laugh out loud!
There was an interesting buffet this evening, and their salads, do it yourself, were excellent as always. Mary and I shocked our waiter as he was ready to get our wine, but we said, “We are on the wagon.” I think he planned to call the authorities and see if aliens had taken us over!
For a buffet, the food was pretty good!
Donna was telling stories and Bob was kibutzing!
Bob’s way of saying, “Yes, dear!”
We all had beads on, and when I came to the table, Vick said, “Paul, you have big balls!” I immediately restrained myself from what could have been several hilarious comebacks! Jim nearly had his diet coke come out his nose, Mary laughed, and Vicky was puzzled until Jim repeated her statement. We all turned red and giggled like little kids!
Vicky and Jim are a cute couple; we are so happy for them!
It was a lovely evening just sharing stories.
Just us!
We departed a little early as we were both tired from planting, and Mary’s cold is still not all the way gone! We went home, climbed into bed, and watched a movie before the Sandman came.
