Two years tomorrow…so much extreme stuff has happened in that time, it’s a big blur.  But we’re happy to report we’ve survived to celebrate.

I gave E three books that would mean a lot to her and me:  Josh Sierk’s Mandalas, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Velveteen Rabbit.  E was deprived of books and being read to as a child, and no kid should grow up without the velveteen rabbit.  She cried, but that’s not unusual.

Tomorrow, I’m pretty sure our excursion will feature plants, Yellow Springs, and beer.  What else could it be?

More later; I’m off to do my erev thing.

I’m excited about my new project: cleaning up and managing the neighbor’s yard.  I know, sounds boring, but it’s what I do.  She couldn’t believe I was so willing; I couldn’t believe my good fortune!  It’s my ultimate challenge: taking an overgrown tangly chaos and transforming it into a botanical garden, using the natural raw materials that are already there.

Today I turned the overgrown jungle in the back of her yard into a park with trails through the trees.    Part of it I dedicated to her son as a memorial garden.  It seems he was really into gardening and perennials, so I cleaned up and restored what he had done, using the contents of his huge metal rotating composter to amend the soil.  There are hostas, beautiful blooming phlox, variegated lily-of-the-valley, black-eyed susans, blackberries, lilies, trumpet vines, and lots of other plants yet to be revealed.  There were bricks, tiled blocks, and railroad ties that I used to create paths and borders.

A neighborhood cat killed and beheaded a garter snake while I worked.  OK, that was weird.

There’s an ancient old gnarly apple tree in the yard that still provides apples, so I trimmed it up.

I’m also tackling the front, which is overgrown with ferns, hostas, sweet woodruff, invasive “weeds”,  and other interesting yet-to-be-discovered plants to be sorted out, underneath a gigantic Colorado spruce tree which the neighbor brought home as a tiny sapling from Colorado, aeons ago.

We’re hoping we can find some overgrown piece of land in TN, preferably with a stream or spring on it, that we can turn into the Secret Garden.  But meanwhile, we’re trying to make the best of our extended temporary layover in Ohio.

Inside, E was baking her exceptional Challah, somehow managing to outdo her last batch.  We sound so domestic!  I guess that’s what domestic partnership means.  She could really be a professional baker if she chose, added on to all the other practical skills she has.

Here are some work-in-progress shots:

Here are the Uber-Challot:

A thing happened yesterday while gardening.

One of our neighbors, an older lady, came by and we started talking.  It turns out her son, in his early 50s, whom we had briefly met and liked, had just died of cancer.  She was in the midst of grieving and sorting his things.  It was hard for her to mow and maintain the yard, so I agreed to help out.  [Don’t throw me in the briar patch! ;D]  E and I listened to her story and consoled her a little, and then I got to work cleaning up the neglected property and mowing it.

It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement, because she gets much-needed help and neighbors to confide in, and I’m allowed to manage plants and materials as needed!  She pays for mower gas.  I get to play in the secret garden!  There are all kinds of cool shade perennials, wildflowers, and fruit bushes hiding in the neglected tangle, which I can clean up and transplant if needed.  This is my ideal habitat, so the neighbor and I are both happy.  She couldn’t believe I was so eager to oblige!

So that happened.  In keeping with the theme of death and life, here’s a cemetery we dropped by yesterday, as we occasionally do, to visit one of E’s great grandmothers.

Yesterday after our hike, we dropped in to visit some goat and cow friends (OK, to eat homemade ice cream).  I think these goats must be part Nubian, with their floppy ears.  I think all the cows are Jersey.  They’re much more photogenic than I!

Yesterday we hiked through Indian Mound, which is now a jungle, to the ancient mossy rock “fortress” and along the stream, where ducks and geese were hanging out.  The woods were full of masses of wildflowers and interesting native plants.  I’m dividing this post into two parts.

This morning it hit me: this will be the last gardening season for us in Ohio.

About a year from now, hopefully we’ll be wrapping things up here in the waiting room, and heading south.  It seems like an interminably long time, but much of the next year will be busy winding down, downsizing/packing up, and house-hunting.  I won’t be putting in another spring garden here.

Hopefully the next tenants or owner will enjoy what I left to them, but I doubt it.  Landscaping and gardening is not a big priority in this working-poor military town, with all the transience and turnover.  It’s basically an extended barracks.  The couple of neighbors who have complimented me on my garden strike me as sad, unmotivated people who are just existing until they too move out.  They seem perplexed that I even bother.

Sometimes I think the very atmosphere here, or certainly the ground at least, is toxic to plants and life in general.  We hope just getting out of here (hmm, seeing a pattern!) into a different culture and surroundings will be healing for both us and our future garden.  At least it keeps us going, looking forward to something better.  For now, gardening and nature photography (such as it is) are my therapy.

It’s a weird time of life, post-employment, whether intended or reluctant.  When you’re working, sometimes you wish you were doing something more productive or meaningful for yourself, but at least you know what you’re supposed to be doing when; it gives structure to your life.  Or income, at any rate.

When you find yourself prematurely retired due to circumstances beyond your control (in my case having to go caregive indefinitely out-of-state), with no prospects of getting back into the job market or having an adequate income, it becomes a challenge figuring out how to make the best use of whatever time you have left, rather than just fill it or kill it.

It’s like being in a waiting room, either making productive use of the constraint, or just wasting time.  The latter makes me crazy.  I want to use this time wisely, and make a difference, not just for myself, but for something I care about.  Still working on this dilemma.  When I figure it out, you’ll be the first to know.

Meanwhile, gardening keeps me semi-sane, and helps keep the chaos at bay.  I take a blank slate and create beauty and natural order.  I capture images of nature surviving our human stupidity and taking back what’s hers.  I take what’s humble and modest, and turn it into something pleasing.  I try to keep myself in proper perspective within the bigger picture.

At the fen on this beautiful cool sunny evening, I was happy to see forget-me-nots (Myosotis) along the water!  More of the huge dead trees have fallen, allowing for more wetland grasses to spring up like a swampy meadow.  It looked like a jungle.  I have yet to ID all the plants.

Just some random scenes at HQ.  Fresh garden flowers, herbs, Skullies, and a “new” cookbook shelf, what else is there?  (Well, booze, but that goes without saying.)  The menu hasn’t finalized itself yet.

I’ve been harvesting a few salad greens and herbs from the garden, but today I thinned out the first radishes!  I planted a mix of four kinds, so your guess is as good as mine.

Today I was amused to find, amongst the greens, tiny tomato plants that had reseeded from last year’s plants and overwintered!  Clever of them.

While I’m rambling on, have you ever tried this trick?  cut off the bottom of your celery bunch, stick it in shallow water, and watch it turn into more celery!  Then plant it.  Behold.  Magic.

Here is arugula, which I mystifyingly planted acres of, blooming.  Here are my chives which wintered over outside, and survived being transplanted into my perennial herb bed.  I use the flowers in arrangements just as much as the greens.

Here are lily-of-the-valley, pale yellow columbines, and Siberian iris.

That’s all from L42’s Garden Almanac for now.  Stay tuned to this action-packed adventure series.