Several years ago my dear hubby made me a very large flower bed on our hill. It has a stone step path down the middle to his altar. Last fall I went down and weeded both sides of this flower bed in the hopes that when spring came I wouldn't have so much weeding to do. Alas, that was not the case.
Claude came up this year after mowing the yard for the first time and said something like, "I don't know where it all came from but your flower beds are full of grass." That would be considered an understatement. Me thinks I just made the hill angry and it spoke back to me in grass, clover, dandelions, and many other obnoxious weeds.
Well, with my torn rotator cuff I couldn't just run down there and work on them.
However, my Andie brought me a plethora of flora and fauna to plant in these beds. These were all items from her yard that she wanted to thin down. What can I say, Andie inherited the Mimi gene for gardening. Me...not so much. But I do love a nice flower bed and yard. These plants were just what I needed to fill some more in my flower beds.
This meant that Thursday morning, April 12th, I spent my morning with Claude visiting a friend. Claude took me to lunch at Wendy's after our visit. Then I suited up in work clothes and headed down my hill to my flower beds with tools and two bags of plants from Andie. I think I started my weeding at 1pm and I came back up the hill for the last time at 7:15pm. I only got one bed weeded and the plants I took down on four bags of plants planted. It was a wonderfully cool day and perfect for working on a very tough spot of ground.
I still had many bags and containers of plants to plant. It would be Tuesday, April 17th before I could make my way down that hill again to clean the weeds out of the other side. I dressed for mess, stopped on the back porch to gather my tools and some more of the containers of things to plant and headed down the hill. The ground was still wet with dew and about half-way down I slide. Oh My Goodness!!! My first thought was my torn rotator cuff that is healing slowly but surely. I did not want to ruin that shoulder. I slide leaning to my right and was cushioned by the plants I was carrying. My left knee took the brunt of the fall this time. I sat until I was sure I was okay. Then slowly got up and carried my stuff down leaving one bag on the hill for later. Geez!! I worked on that plot and finished carrying plantings down the hill until about 4:30pm. Then I headed to one other large bed I needed to weed. I finished it about 5:30pm and headed inside to get ready for Claude and me to take friends to dinner that night.
I did put one of the plants Andie gave me in the front flower bed. As I was walking around to the back porch on the outside of the house, I found a HUGE bag full of grass to be planted. Claude was home and trying to cut the lawn at that point. He looked up from the tractor and saw me looking in dismay at this enormous bag. It was way to heavy for me to lift and it needed planting. I just started to laugh that ridiculous laugh one does when one does not want to cry. Claude could tell what was going through this brain O'mine. He simply stopped the tractor and pointed to one of his water breaks. The fountain grass in it didn't make it through the frost this spring. He wanted to put this big bag of grass in that spot. Hallelujah!!! I was one happy lady.
Yesterday after my physical therapy I went to Walmart to see if they had weights that were 4 or 5 pounders. I wandered into the garden section to look for little flag holders. This led to a stroll through the flowering plants. I came home with a deep red petunia to go in the front flower bed, 3 spearmint plants, and 3 marigold plants to put in the flower bed under my sewing room window in the back yard. I thought I would get them in the ground today. Alas, that was not to happen. So tomorrow morning I get that planting done.
It feels so good to have as much done as I have been able to do. I have enjoyed being outdoors. This hill is a killer but the view is heavenly and the birds are quite a bit of entertainment.
Tuesday while weeding the last bed I heard what I thought was the train quite a distance away. Then the sound seemed different and getting closer. I looked up in the sky and saw 5 military helicopters flying in a 'V' formation in the direction of Georgetown. Hmmm...I must admit my thoughts ran to what it must feel like in war torn countries when you are out doing life's little chores and suddenly there is war around you. It was not a pleasant feeling.
In a few minutes another sound caught my attention and I again looked heavenward to see a huge helicopter, the kind with propellers on both ends heading the same direction as the 5 other little helicopters.
After a few minutes I again heard a sound that strikes terror to my heart. After 9/11 we would hear, frequently throughout the day, fighter pilots soaring overhead to be sure everything in the Washington, DC area was safe. Living in DC during 9/11 evoked strong feelings and they resurfaced as I again heard these fighter planes. There was cloud cover and they were high above the clouds so I did not see them but their sound was headed in the same direction as the previous aircraft.
So my flower beds are ready to be maintained throughout the summer, I have more planting to do and I'm pleased with what I've been able to do so far. Yeah me!!!
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