Happy Saturday to all! A big thanks to Natalie of Natalie the Explorer for hosting WeekendCoffeeShare this and every weekend.

It finally came! First frost finally came this week, though it wasn’t severe enough to kill off my tomatoes. The overnight low only went down to 34-degrees-Fahrenheit (around 2-Celsius). The only thing that got killed were 3 zucchini plants in the in-ground beds. The tomatoes are still kicking but I had chosen to take out the cherry tomatoes just to lighten up my load. It usually take 2 or 3 nights in the 30’s degree Fahrenheit range to kill the summer crops.

When I saw the Freeze watch warning on Monday, I panicked. That evening, I tossed a frost cloth over as many things as I could, even though I knew the vegetables would have no problem with frost. Still, it never hurt to take precaution, and because of that precaution, I still have one zucchini plant left producing. There’s a zucchini on the plant, which I hope it will get just a tad bigger before I can pick it, then the plant would go into the compost.

Though the temperature never went down that low again, my pepper plants (Bertha, Gypsy, and Miss K) are also now safely in my garage and will remain there for the next 6 months. Yes, I name my peppers. Bertha is the tall one and then Gypsy is the one on the left and Miss K is on the right by the wall. Some gardeners have a knack of growing peppers, unfortunately, that’s not me. I have a brownish-black thumb when it comes to growing peppers.

So these plants are almost like my prize possessions. Miss K will be 2 years old next year and I don’t want to start new pepper plants, as they are a pain to start and grow painfully slow. Crossing my fingers that they will survive the next 6 months indoors.

I had my 6-month follow-up with my rheumatologist this week for my lupus. I’ve noticed I was about 2 kg lighter than at my last weigh-in 6 months ago. Though I weigh myself every morning, my scale usually tells a different story than the scale at the doctor’s office.

Anyway, I told my doctor that I have been feeling better than ever before. “Are you doing anything different?”

“No, I told him. The only thing different about my life is where I get my vegetables.” I have been eating from the garden since February of this year. Later that evening, I laughed at what I told my doctor. Isn’t a patient telling the doctor they’re feeling better a doctor’s worst nightmare? Because the patient will stop paying the doctor.

In the end, he ordered some usual labs to see if my numbers have improved. Lab results usually come pretty quick. That night, I got the surprise of my life. My white blood cell count has been abnormally low for over 9 years is now…normal.

How can it be? I can only truly think of one thing – the garden. It has cure me of something that I’ve been trying to figure out for 9 years? I’ve always known the garden to be a magical place but I didn’t know it was that magical.

When I told my mom the good news, she asked, “how come I don’t feel better?” I think the answer lies in the fact that she didn’t contribute much to the garden. I gave it my all to the garden and I guess it returned a favor. If you ask me how I’m feeling, I would tell you I am happy at this moment.

Before we part, I would like share a couple photos of flowers from this week. Surprisingly, they are both yellow – the marigold and the butterscotch nasturtium. Strangely, I find the yellow french marigold better looking than the regular french marigold. Very dainty looking. What do you think?

I appreciate you stopping by, have a wonderful week ahead!