I've been in Virginia, just another quick trip to help my Father out a bit. He has new patio furniture - and so I decided, spur of the moment, to clean and seal his deck. That was a job (what was I thinking?).
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This is my second trip home since my Mother passed away. The house is changing: Friday evening, when I opened the refrigerator, there were no fresh lemons or lemon juice to be found. It's the little things that make you stop in your tracks, it's the little things that loudly shout in your ear YOUR MOTHER IS GONE. So, this trip, it was lemon juice that stopped me cold and caught me off-guard at the refrigerator door.
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The garden is okay (although suffering from benign neglect) - the burgundy bee balm is beautiful against the blue-flowering salvia, and the butterfly bushes and zinnias are blooming - the southern magnolias are blooming like crazy, their flowers nothing short of a festive insect jamboree. I tried to weed as much as I could, and got quite a bit done - but it is dry here, and Dad doesn't water the flower beds, it's as if he has blinders on when it comes to them. It is hard to see it neglected, after years of images of my Mother standing at each bed, hose in hand, watering faithfully. In the morning, before I leave with The Stan and The Dan - I'll probably dig up some of the daylilies on the edges of the garden, they've been shaded out for a few years now, and won't be missed. I can't bear to see them neglected.
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My Father's vegetable garden's are beatiful though - corn, beans, squash, tomatoes and peppers are indeed his thing. This is just one of three raised beds - the other is filled with roma tomatoes and bell peppers - tomatoes and peppers that will be preserved later in the summer. This garden has been wonderful therapy for my Father - at first he wasn't going to plant one this year, but he went ahead, and it has been a good thing - although I can only imagine how in the early morning, when he walks out there to check on it, how much he must miss his wife and partner.
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As for The Dan's first trip to Virginia, let's just say that the best way to describe her is as a seasoned marathon runner, addicted to Red Bull, and HIGH ON LIFE. Thank goodness she is very cute and sweet when she's exhausted. And yes, she has the pheasant pelt with her.
What a good daughter you are! The veggie garden does look exuberant.
Posted by: Layanee | 29 June 2008 at 10:03 PM
The veggie garden really does look lovely! And I grinned about the Dan getting to go to Virginia... much as I'm sure she was pampered at the doggy spa otherwise.
I wonder... not that you really need another project, but would your dad go for a drip irrigation system there in your mom's gardens? Something he could just set on a timer or turn off and on while he was checking his beloved veggies?
Posted by: Kim | 30 June 2008 at 11:49 PM
Layanee, I think it's just that my Dad's lonliness breaks my heart. I wish I lived closer to him, you know?
Kim, Dan did pretty well - but I must admit to having quite low expectations. She settled down in the house, slept well at night - my biggest problem is still that she is a 'bolter' - so has to be on a leash constantly outside. She's a high maintenance little thing! I thought about soaker hoses too for the perennial beds. But honestly - I think he is feeling overwhelmed, and I just am not sure how well that would go (it is like he doesn't even see the flowers wilting). He's got soaker hoses in his raised vegetable beds - so that might work. My Mom's gardens are crazy huge though - and scattered all around - I'm just not sure how to handle them. Once again I brought a few things back, mostly things from the edges and not doing so well in teh shade: two large clumps of daylilies, three hostas (that had been eaten almost to the ground by deer) and some more of the Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' that had also been grazed by deer.
Posted by: Pam | 01 July 2008 at 08:28 AM
I can understand that. As much as I get behind in my own garden (which admittedly is tiny) I couldn't even imagine someone else carrying on with it after I am gone from this house for whatever reason. On the bright side, it seems as though you do have plenty of time to rescue what you do want, as you go visit your father.
As far as the bolting goes... well, after 8 years of it with Coco, I have to say that at least you get to the point where it's just second nature. *grin* It only really bothers me during entirely new things, like camping trips, when I have to figure out new logistics for dealing with her.
Posted by: Kim | 02 July 2008 at 12:19 AM
Kim - it's the logistics thing for sure. My first dog, another pointer, bolted for her first five or six years, then sort of snapped out of it. The Dan would be in the next state in a heartbeat! It is becoming second nature...sort of.
Posted by: Pam | 03 July 2008 at 07:39 AM