SO SOON OLD: So late smart!

You might consider this to be a REQUEL BLOG on flowers planted by my wife Julie. It is and then again, it isn't. It is the same blog I wrote earlier but told a different way! (Son Mark taught me about "requel", an old story told a different way.)

When we were married I assured Julie she would always have the nicest yard in the neighborhood. I am an amateur landscape artist with a green thumb inherited from my Mother and paternal Grandfather. For nearly 30 years I have labored to make my assurance a reality. It would be no easy task as you can see by two of my neighbor's flower gardens.







Last year was physically a tough year for me. I hardly kept the grass cut. Due to a second round of a ruptured disc I couldn't even help carry the Christmas decorations in from the garage.

So, this year Julie took it upon herself to plant the flowers. Wow, did she ever plant the flowers. I never had it looking so good. WHY DID IT TAKE ME NEARLY 30 YEARS TO LEARN THIS LESSON? My brother Henry told me all the time: Dummy!

I was so amazed when she first planted her flowers that I wrote a blog about it. Well, summer has come and is now gone. The days are shorter and the nights colder. Her flowers are fully developed and are starting to show some age. People still slow down driving by to look however.
Earlier this week Julie's daughter, Jackie, was going to return a borrowed ladder telling her friend, Sadie, that her Mother lived on 5th Street. Sadie asked if she could come with Jackie to show Jackie the house with the wicker furniture and breath taking flowers. She was amazed when Jackie proudly explained that that was her Mother's home.

Sadie came and from the Irish crystal to the foreign and domestic spoon collections, she was as impressed inside as she was out. Although a 105 year old home it has been completely remodeled inside and out, professionally decorated and furnished by Ethan Allen.

CHECK OUT THESE FLOWERS:
My back was hurting so bad that I couldn't build this simple rock garden for Julie last year. I'd drop the rocks from the wagon to the ground and she would roll them in place. A couple times one rock has rolled out but otherwise it has stayed in place.

Is this the most magnificent coleius you have ever seen or what? It thinks it is one of the family I guess because it keeps trying to come into the house, Really!









The hanging baskets? They are everywhere! These two are on the front porch. Less you think the flowers are just in front for show, check out the fountain in the small back yard. She is a bit old but "Naomi" is an old friend. The huge, red sedum (live forever) was a gift last year from our friend Carla Ludwig.

DID I JUST ABANDON JULIE TO DO ALL THIS WORK BY HERSELF? No, of course not! A good friend and neighbor, Donna, was hired to help plant and care for all the flowers AND to do other chores around the house that would be mine to do. Julie and I equally share the costs but it has become as much a social event as it is work and I don't know which of the girls enjoy it the most. Yup, FRICK AND FRACK. Uh Huh! Check the picture of them painting the garage.

That is Julie on the ground and Donna balancing on a 5 gallon bucket. Is Julie painting the seat of Donna's pants? No! She is holding Donna on the bucket. Why is she using the roller? Because I discovered she was using the dasher from my antique churn to hold her up and I explained that that was not what I had in mind for my dasher.

Now what? Well, it is fall so it must be mum time. Julie and I went to the Hartville Farmer's Market today where she bought six pots of mums. That seemed like a good start. I had her buy tomatoes. I ask you, aren't the tomatoes prettier than the mums. Yummy, Yummy!

Chili Davis:

"Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional!"

I'm with you, Chili! Uh Huh! Although I start working on my 80th year in a few more months, may I never "grow up"! Nah! I wouldn't like that.

God Bless!