A photographer...I'm not
but this morning I snapped away
at anything that caught my eye and brought me joy
the wench is back

 

They spotted me first
and waddled along the rooftop
keeping an eye on me
I love mourning doves

 

all my undercover...gone

 

 

 

but it hasn't deterred my little bunny family
like ghosts they haunt the garden
making rattling sounds in what is left of the brush
 

my butterfly weed has survived the "Sherman's march to the sea"

 

 

 

oh ironweed...it loves it here
I think I have a rain garden going for sure
now...if it would only rain

 

 

everybody needs beauty
as well as bread
places to play in
and pray in
where nature may heal and cheer
and give strength
to body and soul alike
...john muir

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My garden has turned into a speakeasy
wild and crazy
a joint

I have ignored her this summer
and despite that she has blossomed
The grass has gone all clover and dandelions
sigh...the bugs like it
but my husband sneers at it

The despised grape vine has taken over
growing into the horsechestnut tree and up the chimney
and the morning glories have conneted to the queen of the prairie
making the pathway through the garden tricky

But the worst thing is that the volunteer trees that I usally cut out
have grown without supervision into large teenagers...the  mulberries and maples
I had to call in professional help..
which I dread, but it had to be
But most of them don't know
a tree from a bush
and they just leveled everything
The wench is in recovery
no beautiful quiet serene garden to meditate in
scorchd earth

But it has been a few weeks and things are looking better
the flowers... I was able to save them....with my dead body
and arriving home just in time
Ah she is survivor
the garden
and so is the wench
we both go on
despite hardships

 

 

bar's open

So you say...
where is the wench?
Well, it has not been a good season for the gardener
to be in the garden
too cold
too wet
too muddy
stormy

 

But my oh my...
the garden doesn't really need me
to begin

 

I have also been very busy
selling our home in Galena
it sold in one day!
and we had to be out in 16 days
..only one day in May to book the mover
so I have been packing and schlepping
stuff
to our new home in Galena
The new house has a beautiful garden
....that needs expansion...hee hee

 

So now that all things have calmed down for awhile
I have been weeding frantically
even kneeling mud
to give my beauties less competition
from thistle and bind weed and dandy lions
what a job
for an old broad...can I say that word?
of course I can....
With all the rain everything is so lush
...looks like I am quite the green thumb
....the garden wench did nothing except leave it be
God did the rest
faithfully calling the seeds to germinate
the lilies to send up shoots
the trees to leaf out
everything just continued
while I was gone....

...

 

Of course it was a joy to drag out my old garden relics
to adorn the garden space
what would the garden be without
colored glass
wind chimes
rusty things
trellises
and little wooden chairs?

 

I was shocked to see the clematis growing
into the service berries
oh my

 

 

sorry the picture is sideways...

it's been a while since I have posted

 

But the dearest thing that is happening
..is because of all this overgrowth of everything
all at once
it is lush and glorious
for birds to build nests
and little bunnies and squirrels
to scamper around in
..oh the true joy of the garden

...the critters

My yard, my garden is bird central this spring
truly an audio delight

the air conditioning man just came after servicing our unit
and he declared....those were his words.....:)
that he has seen many gardens in our area....but mine
hands down was the best
a true paradise.....
...oh my slutty muddy heart went wild
....how wonderful to have touched someone
with my garden
Oh....he added
I think I saw a skunk out in the back by the fence
...oh....I said
I know....I smelled him too

.....oh well

 

There is hope in the garden

Though I am weighed down right now

with the news of a wonderful writer,friend,mentor's

death

Though I am weighed down by a friend's suffering chemo

and loneliness

Though I am filled with prayers for good news forthcoming

for a family member

though, though, though

all this worldly spirit weight of the being

There is the garden

hope and promise

rising through the wet mud

gray days

cold air

Despite all this harshness

m' lady garden

rises

Continues the process

it is called to do

 

Lady Robin has finished her nest

despite horrible rain and wind

 

She kept picking grass and mud

arranging and rearranging the lining of her nest

swirling around and around making it just right

for her eggs

Now she is settled in

I assume she has eggs now

....Yesterday she sat on that nest

while it rained

and rained

...and it was cold

But she did what she was called to do

 

Signs

all over

the blood root rises



 

and the bluebells

the aconites

the trillium

and the sedum

I thought to save this for my artist friend, April
...she loves nature stuff
(for her studio)
...oops
I think I have waited too long
...

Even the common daffodils
are risen from the desolate looking earth

and the peonies

 

Nothing special happening in my garden
....the ordinary
AHHH
but the ordinary
is my saving grace 

 

Do you know what this is?
...the beginnings of?

yep, there she is rearranging

rubbing her body around and around
forming a little muddy cup
..sigh..with Reagan's last year's Easter grass that she scatterd all over my yard
do you remember?

 

Golly look at what last April looked like last year!

...not a single leaf is out now

I guess I need to stop scolding myself for not doing a great job
of cleaning up last Fall
and I need to halt spring clean up
by the landscapers in this area
.....critters and birds first
 

 The weatherman says it is going to reach 70 today
hmm
I'll believe it when I feel it
But Mrs. Robin may stifle my gardening joys today
I don't want to scare her away...
what with a bird's eye view from my study window
...and if you know Me
You know that I LOVE robins

Handsome looked so pitiful yesterday
I locked Boo up in the basement and tried to catch Handsome
to bring him inside
Guess the guys not that weak
he ran
and cried
So I left him alone
He came back this morning...to find a new warm snugly tiger blanket
in his igloo and a warm bowl of chicken waiting

I know that everyday is an adventure
never to be offered again
so I will be outside today
I'll let you know what is showing through the earth
...my spirit is hungry
for garden
 

 

Every year this pair walks through my yard
quaaaacking a low quack
she scurrying around
he a watchful eye on everything
One year they actually nested in my blue bells
layed an egg
then abandoned it
and some mr racoon
I think took off with the little egg
I rejoice quietly
when I hear their quacks
somehow it comforts me
this cycle of life
going on in my own backyard garden

It has been a sucky winter and so far
a sucky spring
cold wet windy
muddy....
but oh my looky here....daffodillies
thank you thank you
trumpets of spring

ha! who knew Mr. Cardinal would go to the Handsome's carryout
diner for his lady's meal

 

Maybe just maybe
Spring is just about to come over the hill
! joy !

Long Winter

 

I awoke this morning and thanked God for another morning
though lately my days have been dull and busy

and I was also grateful for another morning with Handsome
He's not been looking too well lately
thin, dull fur, bent ears, runny nose, sneezing
But some days this is my happiness of joy
seeing him...one more day
The guy's used up all of his nine lives and then some
But God has given him another morning too
and so we rejoice together
two suffering souls...finding and giving comfort to each other
Feral.....adjective.....wild
Yes, some days I have wild in me
belonging to no one, journeying through
and over rough paths
finding shelter where I can...in a spiritual way
...sort of on the run
mostly from myself and the disquiet within

I fed him a bowl of warm chicken
he meowed his gravel truck meow
and I made a bowl of oatmeal

We watched each other
through the glass door
our stomach hungers fed
ready to venture into a new day
He to rest awhile posing as a kept kitty
me to get to work
posing like I knew the answers

 

It snowed all day and into the evening
A beautiful snow
I wished for snow flowers so I could go out and tend them
boots on, warm scarf around my neck
soft mittens and an open heart
I stood in front of my home
lost in quiet hushed snowfall
fairyland before me
ahhhh
This is how winter should be
wonder, pure wonder