“An hour of concentrated work does more to kindle joy, to overcome sadness and to set your ship afloat again, than a month of gloomy brooding.” Benjamin Franklin
From Ditdo today…
Pretty springtime peony
Earl’s (aka Butch or Dado) mother, Catherine, came to live with us in 1992. Her health had deteriorated to the point that even she was not comfortable living in Indiana by herself. It took some time for her to get used to no more driving, a different kitchen and a new set of doctors, but as the first two years progressed she began to feel better. She even began to see better as the Emory Eye Care folks began to reverse years of neglect from Grave’s Disease.
Iris from “up north” grows in the red clay of Georgia.
Back in Terre Haute the dirt was rich and black. Her small city plot was full of peonies, iris, roses and her son, Butch’s, gooseberries. In Grayson, Georgia it was hard red clay. Gardening here was a hit and miss proposition as I was still working full time. Then came June of 1994 and the tornado. We went to bed that night with 63 trees in the yard. We woke up at 3:00 a.m. with 3 of them in the living room and only 2 left standing in the yard.
It was time for Catherine to take on a project. After the house reconstruction phase the strip of concrete outside her bedroom, alias Georgia red, was designated hers. It took her a few Springs but today that 6 ft. by 24 ft. is full of her handiwork. Done, as she always did, on her hands and knees.
Yellow yarrow remind us each year of our Multigenerational Garden.
Catherine has been gone for 7 years now, but her spirit lives on through her hours of “concentrated work” and that have “kindled the joy” for us as we walk through her garden. The azalea, camellias, hydrangea, lilies, iris, ferns are all still there. There are no gooseberries but maybe one of her bird friends will help us out, but that will be another story.
What a lucky Ditdo am I.
FreelanceBeth 