Enjoyed some time in the garden Memorial Day Weekend.

Plants waiting to be planted.

 My porch pots.

The garden ready to be planted.

A row of peppers.

Tomatoes.

 Enjoyed some radishes this weekend from a friends garden.

Perhaps I've Been Slothful

I bought some plants months ago and they've taken residence on my porch ever since.....and not in the fashion I would prefer.  Somehow, I did manage to keep them alive, well, mostly.  I was cleaning my porch of yesterday and decided I might as well plant them as just throw them out.  They can die in a pot as well as in a heap somewhere.  Wouldn't you know it, it hasn't even been 24 hours and I think some of them have actually grown a little.  Just think, if I would have only planted them when I got them.

Hmm, now the harder question, what else have I been slothful with?  This morning I was sitting on my porch reading Romans 12:9-21, which includes the verse, "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in the Spirit, serve the Lord."  It was a beautiful morning to sit on the porch.

Poetry and Tomatoes

So I haven't posted much in the last several months, but my garden has been growing.  It has been neglected as usual, but I don't think quite as much as some past years, weeds still grow, and things aren't always harvested as quickly as I would like, but in general I have been to my garden fairly regularly and been harvesting things fairly well.  Tonight I picked some kale, yellow beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and one red tomato - more to come soon hopefully.  But in reflection I wrote a special little something for my own soul.  Hopefully it is not too boring.  And so you know, it is only written in phrases to reflect what I was reading and thinking, it makes no claims of poetry, it is merely reflection.

Poetry and Tomatoes 

An odd combination.

but this evening found me reading poetry

lines written by a friend

giving me pleasure and sadness all together

and so - with melancholy 

I sat down to weed

My garden told of much neglect

for here I go and there I run

so little time for here and now

just as the poem said it 

“Life was in a rush, now

there is no hurry - only time”

so as the garden filled with weeds

where was I?

what else went unseen, untouched, undone,

unsaid, unthought, unvisited

here I sit in my garden pulling at the weeds,

picking at the harvest, 

thoughts going beyond the rush

beyond the unseen, untouched, undone

to the unthought, unsaid, unvisited

and yet again to the undone

Yet there it hangs

that one tomato

the one that has left the green behind

and changed to red

not just any red tomato

but a cherished one

one from my special plant 

the one put there for purpose of remembrance 

my Anna Russian

and so those words of poetry drive me to hope

hope to look for beauty

hope to bring someone joy and smiles

hope to leave a mark worth following

poetry 

and 

the red tomato.

an excerpt from Anna Drags-Stick-Behind-Her 

“Perhaps one will leave a mark

less transient than I, 

a silver thread

for someone else to follow - 

or perhaps just a bit of beauty

to decorate the world

before it melts away

or it is erased by the tide.”

Spring is Coming!!!!

I must say God has blessed me with many good friends. This morning I got myself in a bit of a predicament when I neglected to pay attention to the dimensions of an item I was bidding on at an auction. My only defense is that I have been listening to the birds sing the last week or two, and have enjoyed a few very nice spring like days intermixed in between the cold days, and the typical freeze/thaw rotation of this time of year.  I have been thinking I should start some seeds and It didn't look as big in the picture on the screen, or at least I didn't think about it, and though the dimensions were listed on the screen, all I was thinking was "oh that's cool". So I bid on a little greenhouse made out of old windows and then bid some more and in the end my bidding was successful and I was excited to claim my prize and take it home.  Yeah….after I had paid and went to look at it where it was sitting outside, I realized it wasn't going to fit in my car, not even with the sunroof open open. (For anyone who remembers when I won a patio table and chairs in a raffle last year, I seem to have had this kind of predicament before, but that time I actually managed to get it home in my car, although slightly cold with some windows and the sunroof open). It did not come apart and measured 49 inches high, 32 inches wide, and 58 inches long, there was no way it would fit.  But I had a number of friends willing to help me out, even if it didn't work out to help me today, thank you much for your willingness. I have to say thank you to Lucy, who I walked passed just as I had decided I would wait till later in the afternoon or tomorrow to get it transported and on a whim said, you didn't happen to drive a truck did you, and alas her husband had, so thank you Jeff.  It was actually kind of funny, as I know Jeff, but basically only as Lucy's husband and my elementary school friend, Julie's father, and when i asked him about his truck he didn't know who I was.  When he dropped it off at my house, he said "Now I know who you are, you have been friends of my daughter for years, when you came up and asked about if I had a truck, I knew I knew you but I couldn't place you."  I also have to say thank you to my neighbor Joe who was willing to come out even though it wouldn't fit in his Acadia, he even offered to get a truck from the shop, good old P. Graham Dunn.  And Todd, for being willing to bring a trailer later in the afternoon/evening to help me out, even though your wife's due date is tomorrow.  And Steve for calling me back to see how you could help out even though you were in Tennessee.  And Marv and Glenda for offering before we realized just how big it was and realized it wouldn't fit in your van.    And yeah, even Mitch though he didn't know about the whole dilemma, but was volunteered by Glenda and Ron as being willing even though you had already left the auction to run some errands.  And of course my mother, who offered to help before remembering that they had already lent that vehicle away for the weekend.  So thank to you to my many friends, and others who I sure would have also been willing, I now have this little greenhouse on my front porch and trying to figure out where it will eventually go (my mother said if I couldn't figure it out, she would keep it at her place).

But for today, I am dreaming of gardening and wondering how soon I can start some seeds and if it is safer to put them in this greenhouse.

My NaNoWriMo Rebellion....or rather November musings...: A Slacker's Walk in the Garden

So I thought I would share this here too, as it was from a visit to a private garden's I took with my mom earlier this summer.

My NaNoWriMo Rebellion....or rather November musings...: A Slacker's Walk in the Garden: Well slacker day number 1, if you can count cooking lunch for 170 people being a slacker.  Whatever the case, I got home and decided to take...

Picking Saffron!!

Found a saffron bloom at mom's today!!!

 

Digging Saffron

       One evening not too long ago, during a week when I was really missing my grandmother (Verna Weaver).  I kept having moments when I wanted to give her a call and chat about something or other - the sunny weather, my fresh blueberries and peaches, my bible study time, but I can no longer pick up the phone and just chat for a while. 

       However, I did have opportunity to spend time with my mother digging saffron that she has kindly been growing for me.  My other grandmother (MaryAnn White), not that I don't miss her at times, but she passed away when I was in high school and I didn't chat with her on the phone about various things of everyday life as an adult - anyways, she grew saffron for many years.  My uncle continued the tradition and when he moved to a senior apartment complex a year or two ago asked if anyone would want some  of the saffron bulbs.  Being nostalgic as tend to be, I said I would, but then because my mother has a fenced garden and tills up her own garden, I let her grow it.  That doesn't seem quite fair, but here where I live I would have to put up a fence or have the bunnies eat my saffron or come home one day to find my saffron patch tilled up, so I plead with her and she accommodates - I do feel a little guilty.  I know I enjoyed this evening and hopefully mom did too, and she is welcome to keep the saffron threads when the time comes, but first I will remember to set aside time to visit again when it is time to plant the bulbs again in a couple weeks.  

        This particular evening was about 90 degrees and we were dripping sweat just digging up this small patch, I will pray for a little cooler of an evening when we plant them again.

Found one!

Mom taking a turn with the fork.

Sorting through the dirt to find the bulbs.

This little rectangle of fresh dirt is where mom had the saffron planted.

The yield from our digging and sorting efforts.

A view over the fields from the corner of mom's garden.

The sun setting over mom and dad's.

Following is a little piece I wrote about my grandmother (Verna) not to long after she passed away this spring.  This was a timed writing exercise, I did for something.

GRANDMA
Verna Gehman Weaver.  She had a round face, a face we always called a "Gehman"face.  I have the same face, just like my mother.  her face was quick to smile when you walked in the room that is what I remember.  She was 96 the last time I saw her, I was supposed to go to New York City to see an art show - felted art but there was a winter storm and it snowed and was cold so we cancelled out train tickets and stayed and visited grandma.  What a blessing.  She didn't seem to remember my name but she remembered me.  We put together a pretzel mix to sell in the gift store as one of her activities at the Lincoln Home.  The next day I mixed them up and brought one back for her.  She was very proud of that soft pretzel.  I still have the bag - where she changed "Aunt Annie's" to VernaW's.  Those were good days but they are gone now.  She is gone.  I keep thinking of calling her but I can't.  I called her many Saturday's after grandpa died.  I enjoyed talking to her.  When she lived at Fairmount early on.  I would talk to her about Bible Study she frequently went to Wheatridge for bible study and then I would talk about what I was teaching for Sunday School or for Thursday evening bible study.  She frequently asked me about work and if I was still helping people and going to their houses.  I remember talking to her many places - on walks along Zuercher Road, in the Kidron MC parking lot waiting to go water-skiing, at mom's house, in my car, at Beth and Arlin's when she gave me a Peanut Butter pie recipe and someone was being such a pest so I couldn't focus to write or listen to grandma that I went outside on the deck.  I also remember visiting grandma at Fairmount with my friends on the way back from NYC - with Elly, SongJu, Beth, and Holly.  It was a bright sunny day and we surprised her - I hadn't told her ahead so she wouldn't be disappointed if we didn't stop.
       I have other memories too at her home on Gockley Rd, above the farm she grew up on.   I remember walks, visiting her friends, My times up.
GRANDMA I WILL MISS YOU.  THERE IS MORE WE COULD TALK ABOUT, MORE WE COULD SHARE BUT WE HAD GOOD TIMES - THANK YOU.