Gardens

I'm dreaming of gardens!

Probably because it's February; with unpredictable weather, mostly siding on cold, dreary days and icy roads.

But today the sun shone.  And tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 50's.

My earliest memories, perhaps from old pictures or stories retold by my parents, are of our first home, and my father establishing borders, and gardens, and a lawn and planting trees.

7 Terrace Court

It was initially a very common ranch, built on a slab.  Constructed for the thousands for returning GI's and their family's.  We moved there when I was a bit over 2.

It had no lawn, or landscaping, garage or even a driveway.

But it had mud!!

My father remediated that in short order!

The mud disappeared from our property.

 Although the empty lot across the street was a real drawing card for the little 2 year old girl who lived at 7 Terrace Court!

Tales of  me disappearing to the enticing mud property when my mother was hanging the laundry began to be circulated at family gatherings.  And they always ended with the little blonde girl taking off all her clothes to wallow in the squishy stuff.  Coming home covered head to toe with mud,only little blue eyes shining out.  I don't think they ever found my shoes.

We lived there until I was 14.

But I remember the beautiful pear tree that my dad planted.  Magnificent flowers in the spring and yummy golden pears in the late summer.

 And honeysuckle climbing up one side of the house, so vigorous that my dad started claiming it had the characteristics of a weed.  He was constantly pruning it back and I loved the sweet heavy fragrance when I passed by that side.

And the hedge that he planted on the back boundary of  our property. It grew so tall and thick that we couldn't see our back neighbors house.

He didn't have vegetables on that property.  He started a vegetable garden when he moved to his next house.

But he always had a lush green lawn.  Of which I still am jealous.

I just went through the thousands of pictures I have on my phone.   And was reminded....

Soon I'm going to be seeing so many different colors of day lilies, and apple tree blossoms, and pink tulips, and peonies, and lilacs and black eyed susans, and  I'm going to be getting out to my garden house to plant pots of impatiences and tend to my "secret garden" for my granddaughters.

So I'm encouraged.

There's lots of green and red and pink  and yellow and blue and orange under all that white stuff we have around.  And soon they will all awake after their long winter's nap.

And I'm sure I will add more flower pictures to my phone collection.

Only the year will be 2018!!

2018

And just like that we've slipped into another year.

But it's already six weeks old, with so many events, experiences, holidays, family, church, dinners, guests, trips, building, and everyday routines in the past.

And like two years ago we woke up to beauty that frequents the North Country in February.

Ice!

I wrote this poem two years ago on February 18, 2016 when we awoke to another.....

THE MORNING ICE

Diamond necklaces were flung down from the sky last night,

Caught in the tops of our eighty foot maple tree branches.

Or were they crystal chandeliers?

Majestically draped in those tree tops?

Cascading down from the heights,

Constructed secretly in the dark by tears and wind

Glittering, sparkling, captivating in the morning light.

Daggers, long and thin, droop from the low hanging branches.

Spears and swords,

Translucent sculptures,

Transitory art.

Beauty.