Gifts and rewards

The scaffolding has come down and sunlight has returned to my greenhouse/bedroom.
My plants are happy and even a few blooms here and there. The poinsettia is still putting on a show ... not like the big gaudy flowers found in a florists shop but maybe seven flowers of part green and part red petals greeting me each morning.

Along the wall on the east side of the house, I am enjoying the reward of a second year of blooms from these bulbs rescued from the weed lot on the park.

Though this end of the bed is only about six inches between the house and the wall, the plant has increased in size and numbers of blooms. I think it is happy that the guys with the weed whackers won't be showing up here and I don't mind if it takes over the whole space.

How is that for a flower just beginning to open? And there are a lot of promises in the bud too.

I am still going to the park on nice days to pull weeds.
It's not quite the same without my canine helper, but I prefer this exercise to radio gymnastics.

We are working on getting a new dog, but even the rescue places won't give dogs to old people. There is some kind of ban now on letting the elderly have dogs. It seems rather stupid to me because it gets those owners out for a walk at least twice a day,  and they also connect with the rest of the community on those walks.

Over the past number of years, my readers have heard about the "Weed Lot" on the corner of our street. A number of years ago it was knee-high weeds and collected lots of dog poop ... I suppose the dog owners thought no one would be walking there anyway so didn't pick it up. The feral cat population used it as a litter box too, and the wind blew plastic or people tossed trash and all that collected standing water for a mosquito farm.

After years of complaints, I decided to just pull the weeds, day by day, a little at a time, until the lot was pretty well under control.  What had been an eyesore for the whole neighborhood became very positive as I planted flowers along the borders each spring.

There was some negative, though, as the renter in the adjoining apartment didn't like me pulling weeds and would shout at me to go back to my own country and I was a "dorobo" burglar? For stealing weeds??? But basically, what had been negative, became positive.

Then, last year, the apartment was sold ... the guy moved out ... and the building was torn down.
Then, months of building began. The new house got bigger and bigger ... which means taller and taller because the space was really not that large. In the end, what stood on that weedlot was a house ... thankfully not another apartment ... but cutting off most of the sun coming from the south and west to my garden. I was a little sad last year to see only one flower on my row of azalea bushes, no flowers at all on the enkianthus, and even fewer on the hostas that don't seem to need a lot of sun.

So here in my small neighborhood was a plot of land swinging back and forth from good to bad.

Then, last fall, the property was finally sold. The neighborhood waited with curiosity. The flower box by the door got several rose bushes. There seemed to be a young couple coming and going.

Finally, I got some treats and took them one evening, after seeing lights on in the house, and rang the doorbell.  I introduced myself and told them I hoped they would feel welcome here.


Since then their little garden has continued to grow with planters and trellis added. The other evening, my doorbell rang and I went to the door to find the couple  bringing me these darling cookies they had made. I think it was the husband who did the decorating. Oh they are so cute I'm not sure I want to eat them.  Both the couple speak English. The husband went to school a year in Ohio, my home state.

I will see how my garden does with a bit less sun, and maybe plant some things that like shady spots, but in the balance, I will be enjoying the weed lot, now with the promise of rose blooms. And the nasty renter, having been replaced by a lovely young couple.
Things are changing all around us. The new "normal" will never be the old normal. I am hoping this experience is a sign to look for something better yet to come.

I hope you all are keeping safe and well. Nothing lasts forever. The floral quilt has only 8 blocks left to quilt and then it will be on to the borders.  I wil keep trying to see these days as a gift of time.