Back to reality tomorrow. In a way it will be good; it's good to keep busy. And, the end of school is in sight - we have something like 40 more days.
Today was a beautiful day; I spent most of the day working in the yard. There's nothing like digging in the dirt for therapy! I used to have a really pretty backyard but then we got a second dog. My Boston Terrier did little harm to the backyard and it stayed lush and beautiful; then we got the Lab. Now my backyard looks like a barren wasteland. It's literally unrecognizable. It's awful.
And on top of that, the drought year before last killed off a number of shrubs back there that I never got around to replacing. I really had planned on re-sodding the backyard over spring break but was discouraged by voices of experience who warned me that my Lab would keep it from taking root.
It's getting better, though. You'll have to trust me when I tell you that I've spent two really good days working back there and even still you can barely tell a difference, although by the end of the afternoon today I can say I'm starting to see some progress. I even went out on a leap of faith and planted a few flowers. They probably won't last a week (dog!), but they look hopeful right now.
So far, over the past two weeks, I've pruned three crape myrtles, cleaned out six flower beds, dug up one dead shrub, bagged fourteen bags of oak leaves from the neighbor's tree, mowed for the first time this season, planted twelve hollyhock roots, two phlox, two giant elephant ears, one delphinium plant, one avocado tree (started from a seed last year), fertilized the hostas who are bravely peeking up through the surface, planted a pot of basil on the deck and a few annuals in containers.
If half of that lives then it might be habitable back there this summer.
And if it doesn't, well, it was good therapy anyway.
I used to have an angel wall plaque that read, "Life began in a garden". I hope you are doing better.
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