Garden Shame

Dear garden,

I hope we are still on speaking terms.
I know I have been very neglectful of you and the surrounding yard, and it pains me to see as much as it must pain you to feel so disheveled. This neglect is not done on purpose but still shames me and makes me blue.

  I see you trying so valiantly to still poke and stick your heads out of the debris covered beds. Full of last years clutter of leaves, seed heads, sticks and stalks of lasts years blooms. What a mess!

  Though when you still accomplish this difficult task you still shine and glow with color and make me smile.

  It is like you understand my body is not ready to bend and dig to clean you up. I miss our dirty talk sessions and even cleaning and hauling last years messy glory to the compost or burn piles. You seem to understand. For that, I am thankful!

I even miss the battles we have when I reach around the more prickly plants and get a thorn or scratch from pulling away autumns past leftovers.

  I stop and admire what little surprises you managed to push through the mulch mess that was not meant to stay. It says to me that you are waiting for me to come play and enjoy. And I can't wait!! It is hard to be patient when I see seedlings and last years flower stalks tormenting me, as if they are sticking out their tongues in jest that they got the chance to stick around longer than normal.

  Dear garden, I will be back. I delight in what you struggle to show off, so it is not wasted energy. I see you! I pull up a little stray seedling or dandelion in my small jaunts from the car back to the house after physical therapy or doctor appointments. But soon we shall spend more time together getting dirty and then just looking pretty.

Thank you for living through my shame,
  bearing this cross with dignity.
Hopefully I will not have to turn in my gardening tools for lack of use!

Until next time...

Readers have you ever felt the need to apologize to your garden, home or family because you have limitations that feels like weighted chains holding you down?
It is hard and boring,
 but I have to keep reminding myself...
with time and physical therapy I am getting better!

Happy Earth Day !

I was just a youngster, in middle school in 1970, but I remember the first Earth Day especially since I am a Wisconsinite! Gaylord Nelson had much to do with that historic day and was Governor of Wisconsin at that time. I wrote about those humble origins and beginnings here, I hope you enjoy it.

Earth Day has evolved to a more environmental awareness day. An awakening to all the children of the earth to help take care and restore her.

Do you do anything special to celebrate our common home?

If you can not go out to purchase a new tree or plant for your own area, how about looking for seedlings in your own yard? I often have trees that have reseeded themselves and are big enough to transplant. The same with many of my perennials. If I can not use them I share with a friend or neighbor who can. Another easy trick is to thin out your garden area and transplant or share those little babies. I especially love to do that with my family heirloom plants (those that have been gathered from other generations yards and passed on to share in a new family members yard).

If you do not feel like digging and planting how about just taking a nice (family) walk with small trash bags (or recycle used plastic store bags) and pick up trash and garbage along your way. Even little ones can help if it is not a busy area and makes it a teaching experience as well. If you can only walk a short distance than clean up around and especially in front along the road way (be careful of cars, have a look-out with you) and tidy up your entrance to your earthly kingdom. Your neighbors and your home will thank you!

What ever you do, I hope you make it an enjoyable (family) time. Celebrate our Mother Earth. If you can not do it today you can read more here on the origins and beginnings and things you can do and learn more about the place we call home.

Happy Earth Day,
Mother Earth.

Until next time...

Do you have any
plans just
for Earth Day?


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Black eyes

Black eyes where staring at me.
Black eyes surrounded in red!

...

 almost blood red!

encompassing that bright black eye

2 black eyes,

 wearing bright yellow eye liner

faded and shattered

wrinkled and shattered black eye,

wearing whats left of its pretty yellow liner

Fallen and spent she now lays on the ground.

Storing energy to stand tall again next year.

(I hope you enjoyed my black eyes today. These pretty tulips were photographed last year. This year they grew long and leggy in the early warm spring and fell over once the cooler temperatures came back to town. Last week I did my first attempt at cleaning up the mess, that my planting beds are this year. This one featured is the only one I was able to get done before fatigue and pain zapped me. My physical therapy continues along my road to recovery. Day by day I fight to get stronger, keep up a good attitude and when possible stop here and share a smile, colors, a new discovery or just a surprise for you! Thanks so much for stopping in again. You are a big part of my recovery process!)

Have you found any eyes,
black or otherwise, in your yard?

Fresh coats of color and building a new spring home

Signs of spring keep showing up,
 even though our temperatures have dropped down into the colder 'normal' ranges.

I have no fear that spring is on its way,
as you can see the signs below...

male goldfinches sporting their fresh spring coats

all photos are mine

you may click on them to enlarge

please ask before using

boys and girls meet for a snack on the Cat Diner

signs of a fresh foundation being built

new home almost ready for a family

Have you been noticing the
"signs" of the new season
    near you?

Big Bunnies scare me!

Did you ever see a little kid screaming just because someone made them sit on a Big Bunnies lap?

Well that was me a long time ago ...

Every year there is at least one age group to get initiated into this fear!

Maxine on Crabby Road know what I am talking about!

Maxine is a Hallmark© licensed image

It really makes me wonder all about those funny colored eggs too!

Our parents make us hunt for them and who knows what critter has had their way with them while it has innocently hiding ... just saying!

And then they want us to EAT them!!!

No thanks. I stick with the peeps and chocolate bunnys,

 they look harmless enough to me.

Have you ever been scared by a so called holiday character?

Until next time,
here's wishing you happy times, lots of chocolate and gummy goodies!

Forgotten but still blooming with life

If you take a walk to the top of my back yard, near the fence that divides it from the farm fields behind us you will spy a pretty crap-apple tree.
Planted along time ago by the previous owners, you would not even know it was there, until you took that hike.

Why this spot was chosen we do not know. Its beauty is not seen from the house or enjoyed even if right outside in the back yard. Only by hiking up the steep hill, trough the tall grasses, that we leave for nature and wildlife to use and enjoy. Then looking sharply to the left. It is in arms reach of the farm fence itself.

Here is a wider view. If you look hard behind and to the left of the crab-apple you can see the old and forgotten apple tree that also resides on our hill top.
We leave this one alone to also tend to itself and grown the way it has since a sapling.

These pretty and delicate blossoms are from a few days before on the abandoned apple. It sheds its flowers quickly, especially this spring with it's ping pong match of warm and cold, windy days. A little rain and gusty cold winds and the fragile petals don't have much of a chance. This large tree is deeper in the thicket of other trees and taller grasses that also hold frame for vines of the prickly kind and wild grapes as well. Add this to the forgotten apples shelter and you can understand why we leave its fruits that fall to the ground for the wildlife to enjoy as well.

They are tasty and a sweet-tart flavor, but since it is left to fight its own battles the fruits are not pretty, but absolutely useable if one would care to carve away the blemishes of scale and bruises. We have been tempted to snack on one or two if we are lucky to pick one off the ground that was freshly fallen.

So the neglected apple and the misplaced crab-apple trees keep each other company and enjoy the seasons as they pass. This year should be no different. I hope to enjoy their changes through the summer into fall along with the birds, deer and other wildlife, as they enjoy their tasty treats.

Have you ever found a forgotten surprise in your yard?

Until next time ...