Come on, sip that last bit of coffee, put the cup down on the porch railing, and put your shoes back on because we're going to go look at Clara's flowers. Clara is my mom, and she has an abundantly overflowing garden that keeps growing every year. This is my way of thanking her for all the beauty she provides for everyone who comes to visit the Greer's. I don't know of too many people who don't end up walking around the yard from flower bed to flower bed, watching the progress of the flowers and admiring the sheer volume of plantings. See, my mom puts flowers here, there, and everywhere. Everywhere, including around the old bulldozer carcass in front of my dad's shop. Some years, there are even flowers hanging in a pot that rests on the rim of an old basketball goal hanging on the barn. Hope you enjoy the tour. I probably don't know the names of everything, so if you have questions, you can email me and I'll pass the questions on to my mom.

Whether you call it Green Tomato Relish or Green Tomato Ketchup, it's a zingy way to use up all those green tomatoes this time of the year when the tomato plants go into mega-production mode. You know, the time of the season when you can't even give away all the tomatoes. My mom made over two dozen jars of this relish, and I took some pictures as she made the second batch. The kitchen light was off to cut down on the heat, so these are a mix of partial sunlight and the incandescent stove light. Smell was the predominant sense of the day, though! As she chopped big chunks of green tomatoes, red bell peppers, cabbage, purple cabbage, onion, red onion, and green peppers, each scent same at me in waves. The waves of fresh cut vegetable scent blended and filled the kitchen. Ah, but the real tell-tale scent of green tomato relish comes when the vinegar, sugar, and spices hit the boiling water! You could even smell relish in the air pocket between the storm door and wood door at the back porch!

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