Chasing Lightning Bugs Studio Blog

i wonder if the city is going to threaten to ticket me again for my front yard. i'm breakfasting on yogurt and blackberries. and planning my day. lots of studio stuff. meagan's yard sale. a walk with edgar. laundry. shipping some quilts. but nowhere on that list is cleaning up the front garden for spring. it's an extra that i really don't have time for. now that i spend 50 - 60 hours a week at the studio, the time just isn't there. but that isn't the only reason. and maybe not the biggest reason. my garden full of herbs and perennials and mostly rows of lavender, was once lovely. and loved. i enjoyed spending hours in the dirt surrounded by the earthy spicy scents. neighbors wandered past. we chatted. they complimented the garden. i had a table with bunches of herbs and posies of flowers for people to take. i had a donation can for a local charity. the neighbors were generous. people even dropped off photo enlargements at my door of photos they'd taken of the garden and the give-away table.
and then a change happened. a slight shift. the white frame house next door that always had a quirky collection of students was torn down to accomodate a new craftsman styled bungalow. a beautiful home. but the process saddened me. i'm used to it now, and quite enjoy the lovely older woman who lives there. but the commotion of it being built, made me uncomfortable in the front of my house. and happier in the backyard. and then a woman with negative and nasty energy moved across the street. we are a small street with only 5 houses so one or two little changes makes a noticeable shift. and now i never use the front of my house. the front porch that i tried to bring back to it's happy former state last fall, is rarely used. i'm happier in my tree-ed private back yard that connects to the studio and has the tired swings and the porch and my little fire pit. i do miss my front gardens, but the joy has faded. and now i let them grow wild and although i enjoy their wild state, the hateful woman across the street, who ironically, is the biggest reason i'm not comfortable in my front gardens, has decided they don't suit her. i think she's afraid people will feel they are a reflection of her because she's chosen to live in this lovely neighborhood that she misunderstands so greatly. so i wonder how my gardens will grow this year. they are on their own. someday i may find the joy and the drive and the time to spend with them. but i love them either way, whether they are wild and weedy or verdantly floral.