Saturday, May 5, 2012


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.

8 comments:

  1. I love them either way too...
    One must work in the garden because it makes one feel good.
    And wildnes is actually fun! Now that I live away from people, I am more often out working in the garden. Its weird. 'Cause I know that you, like me, like people. Maybe we are becoming more selective with the years....
    Only the fact that lavender grows in your garden makes my heart sing : )

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  2. I am by no means a 'green thumb' and never knew what to do with our small an "unkempt" from yard. This year we finally tackled it and I am much happier that the outside reflects who we are. On the subject of neighbours - I actually had to ask my "negative and nasty energy" neighbour to stop pruning the bush on MY property! Couldn't believe that he felt entitled to do it. It's safe to say he won't dare try that again.

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    1. My husband found our bad energy neighbour hanging from the tree in front of our house trying to rip branches off. And a couple days later the city showed up, thinking i had phoned....she pretended to be the home owner!

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  3. I guess it must disturb her that your yard is not as neatly manicured like hers. If she is older lady, she probably doesn't have enough to keep her busy not to notice. I love the look of a natural garden with lots of lavender, rosemary, peonies, hydrangeas and yes, a few weeds!

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  4. the photos are so very beautiful, and wild has its own beauty but some people are just not able to see that, it's a pity for them they are missing something, they have a narrow view literally and figuratively, enjoy your garden! xx

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  5. Nature makes no mistakes... she lives without care and leaves without care too... It sounds as though this beautiful leafy fort is the perfect barrier twixt your wonderful, grateful world and the energies that need not come close. I love it ... and I can only imagine that eyes unable to see it's beauty are not perspectives we care for anyhow... XX

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  6. It wouldn't even occur to me to tell a neighbor how they should maintain their yard and I would expect the same of them. Alas, we too have that one very nosy neighbor who I often see "working" in their yard staring directly into our large curtain-free windows.

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  7. p.s. your yard and gardens are beautiful!

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