MY CORNER OF THE WORLD...

I was looking out the kitchen window

 the other day 

and seeing the Lady Banks rose

 coming to life.

  It was rather one sided, 

tucked back in a corner, 

and it reminded me somewhat of

 how it has been for the past year,

 always waiting to see what was coming, 

always waiting to see what was happening just around the corner. 

 Would we be able to stay healthy, 

would the vaccine be available and when, 

would Main Street businesses stay afloat

 or would the doors close? 

 All of these questions seemed to be waiting just around the corner. 

 

Those were hard questions to answer 

and it took time, too much time, 

but the light at the end

 is beginning to shine through. 

Things are starting to open up,

 masks are not being required

 in some outdoor circumstances. 

 If these are good plans only time will tell. 

 What is most important now

 is that we get our vaccinations. 

 I have been trying to be a voice

 for what I think is right for me

 but that might not always be

 right for someone else. 

There are a lot of 

different opinions out there,

 and we all have to do 

what is right for ourselves. 

 Some think after you are vaccinated 

that you are safe 

and don't need any other precautions.

 I think differently

 and when a small county such as I live in

 has three times more cases

 than they did the day before,

 I find that discouraging. 

This is the last

 I will speak on the subject

 except to say I hope

 that everyone gets vaccinated 

and that thinking about 

your fellow human beings

 becomes first and foremost

 in your hearts and minds.

Every spring, 

just after the first small miracle

 of life starts to sprout, 

I have hopes that the garden will 

come back to life 

and at the same time,

 I really doubt that it will.  

Even though our winter normally

 isn't a harsh one

 it still does unthinkable things

 to the garden.  

I have always maintained

 that our garden 

grows in spite of us

 not because of us 

and I try to blame it all on winter

 but then miracles do happen 

and I can clearly see

 around the corners.

I have a "gardener"

 that is very proficient 

with a pair of clippers! 

 No matter what the time of year is 

if, to his eyes, 

something looks out of place, 

when in doubt, chop it off! 

 I, on the other hand, 

tend to love to live under jungle conditions, 

so I don't like to trim, 

but then that always shows 

at the most inopportune times,

 so I complain how we should have

 trimmed at the right time,

 and that sends that "certain gardener"

 looking for his clippers, 

which nine times out of ten, 

he can't find 

but it is that tenth time

 that is the killer.  

See,

 in spite of us, not because of us!

We only had one clump of daffodils 

that came up this year.  

It must be those pesky squirrels!

  In order to preserve the occasion,

 I tried to dry them. 

 Actually, they didn't do too badly

 although this one, above,

 was the prettiest. 

 They will be tucked 

into a wreath someplace 

come next spring.

I would like to thank you  all 

for your kind comments about the books

 in last week's post. 

 It seemed to bring back good memories

 to a lot of you 

and I am so glad. 

 I mentioned that we also got visits

 door to door from 

other types of salesmen.

  We bought a vacuum cleaner,

 I can't remember the brand, 

but it was a cannister type 

with a little top that unscrewed 

where you could put a rag,

 soaked with your choice of 

something that smelled good

 and as you vacuumed 

the scent was everywhere. 

 My personal favorite was eucalyptus oil. 

 It brought back memories 

of when I had a cold 

and my mom put a pan of water,

 with a bit of eucalyptus oil in it

 on the wood stove 

and then I had to stand over the pan 

with a towel over my head.  

It was supposed to make breathing easier and it did. 

 It also made me feel loved and

 well taken care of. 

 I remember when the salesman came

 to the house and we paid him.  

We were contacted by the company wanting us to pay for the vacuum. 

They later found out that the salesman

 sold these vacuums and 

then absconded with the money! 

 Another purchase was

 Life Time pots and pans. 

The salesman came to the house, 

where we had invited a few friends over, 

and he cooked us a whole, delicious meal.  

We sold quite a few sets for him

and after 50 years, 

we are still using three of the pans 

to this day.

The Captain was gifted this tree  

when he retired from the school district.

  After the last storm 

we noticed that it was leaning badly 

so we called a tree professional

 and he said it needed to come out 

before we had another storm.

  We were concerned 

that it might fall into the street.  

Although it was tall,

 it wasn't very big around,

 but when the trunk and the bigger limbs

 hit the ground,

 it shook the whole property.

It took them only about 1 1/2 hours

 to cut it down 

and run all the branches

 through their chipper.

 They left the yard cleaner

 than they found it. 

 Now, we need to clean the corner up, 

and we have a special piece

 to replace the tree.

These are 

the neighborhood wisteria trees. 

 The one on the back left

 and the tallest middle one

 belong to two different neighbors. 

 The one in the foreground 

and the one far right 

is our bush that overlooks

 the Secret Garden...

...but this is all we can see of it 

from the screened porch.

  Aw, the Wonderful World of Wisterias.

Well, life has turned a few corners since I started this post. 

 We drove to Santa Cruz to attend a memorial service for our sister-in-law. 

 It was held in a large tent 

on church grounds, 

three sides were closed 

with one big end open. 

 It was considered an outside gathering. 

 It was a wonderful remembrance of her 

and our niece and nephews 

did such a wonderful job 

of taking care of her and their dad.  

We got to see and hug our kids,

 whom we haven't seen in a year. 

 We came right back home

 after the service 

and now, I guess,

 you can say 

we have taken more baby steps

 towards getting around

 the corners

 that are yet to come.

Have a wonderful week.

...Judy...

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