Man-Made Boxes....Seen Better Days

The Wide Wednesday Challenge today is "Man Made." I took this photo of the grapes on the vines in front of the packing boxes. Thanks, Steveng, for hosting this month.

I saw this photo op. as I drove the long driveway exiting a local farm stand. I picked Japanese Eggplants and Slicing Tomatoes; the picking wasn't easy, and the remaining vegetables were starting to rot in the bushes, but I found enough for a recipe my husband wanted to make. Tonight he made two big batches of the vegetarian pasta recipe; we will freeze meal-size portions for quick meals.

As a child, I grew up in a farmhouse surrounded by acres of vineyards; wooden boxes like those in the photo piled high behind the farm shed, and dad had to repair them every year. The boxes were filled with dried grape bunches, I mean raisins,  to be trucked to a Sun-Maid packing plant in the Fall. I remember the stress while waiting to hear if the shipment passed inspection so our family would be paid a top dollar or barely enough to pay for harvesting. 

FYI: Ellie insisted on going to the airport this morning at 5:45 AM when her mommy left; perhaps she is already doing whatever is necessary to make things okay for her mommy? Thankfully, she fell asleep in the car returning home, so she wasn't too tired for preschool. Her mommy called me very happy when she got home. What a difference a day makes.