Summer days...

Yesterday, it was cleaning day in the garden... which means that all the lovely leafy and full hedges of holly surrounding our little white cottage were trimmed and freed of the nasty climber-like type of weed that grows at its feet and makes things unbearable for the poor gardener, because to do so one must squeeze between the hedge and the wall of the house and, as you try to pull the noxious weed out and trim the bushes at the same time, you get badly stabbed by the needle-like leaves of the holly... and you ouch and ayayay... and then you start to think--what if... what if this sharp pain in my arms back neck hands was caused by a meaner source other than the thorns on leaves?  Like, maybe a spider? 

Although the job of getting stabbed by the holly bushes is my duty and mine only, I truly love these bushes.  I am so thankful I opted on keeping them and can hardly believe that my original plan was to take them out.  I remember I even contacted a local company to do the job.  I am thankful these people were irresponsible enough not to come back to do as agreed and thus I was able to keep the holly.  What a blessing in disguise that was.  I cannot begin to imagine the nakedness and starkness without the natural barrier they create...  somehow, these bushes make me feel protected... from the elements, from noise, from onlookers.  And what a lovely, scenic screen they are all year round.   

I also worked on all the small privet bushes I am patiently trying to mold into perfectly round shaggy heads.  These things will take over your entire yard and house if you let them be... all paths and flowerbeds were also thinned out and cleaned of weeds.  Roses were deadheaded and clipped, and after all that was done, everything got watered down.  By hand.  The pond needed water too.  In hot summer days like these, it can loose water to evaporation pretty quickly.  

I also planted the several roots of wild hostas that the nicest lady 'Anita', whom I meet at church this Sabbath, kindly pulled out from her garden early the following morning and brought to church for me to pick up on our way home from camping... wasn't that nice of her!

I was told that in the wild, these species of hostas have the ability to reproduce by seed and that they are very prolific.  I have never seen a hosta seed; nor planted them by seeds either.  Now, let Nature do the job! 

Inside our little cottage I am always working on something new... a new decorating project, a new recipe to try, a new chapter of my book to write.  Days are too short for all I want to do and live.  I can hardly believe we're at the end of another month...  the days fly like birds on the late horizon. 

Thank you all for being here...