There are those out there who do their job with energy, resolve, patience, wisdom. (Then there are those who are egomaniacs and protect only themselves, trampling over anyone and everyone in their way, but we wont talk about those -- why ruin a perfectly fine Saturday?!) They serve as board members of HOAs and they devote countless hours to maintain a peaceful, plentiful, caring community of neighbors. My friend Diane is such a board member. And today, I met another two -- both serving on the HOA in the new development - the place where Millie and I live. The place of Steffi's House. This morning, after a fine breakfast on the porch...
... I shepherded Millie to her crate and biked over to Tati's, because our HOA Board set aside two hours there to talk about future developments in the new development. I went solely because I wanted to find out when the road cutting through toward the dog park would be finished, but I stayed a while. One of the board members lives across the street from me and I have to say, he makes the perfect neighbor (as does his wife, who is active in the various social groups that have sprung up here). Both of them are incredibly friendly and cheerful -- something I haven't seen much in people since oh, I don't know -- maybe Covid.
People drifted in and asked questions about dogs, about trees, about the efforts to built out in an environmentally friendly way. [I had to laugh at that last one because of course, Ed and I were regulars at council meetings for many many years, trying to block the development in the first place. But our efforts (and those of many others) weren't for nothing -- the developer took seriously our concerns and being a smart person, decided to use "environmentally friendly" as a marketing tool. As a result, many come here to learn about the various strategies used here to channel runoff, create median prairie strips and ponds where water would drain from the sloped terrain.] I stayed for the whole hour. You learn things from good people. And all the while I kept thinking -- wow, and he's my neighbor too!]
I came back just as Ed arrived with many, many ears of corn. Stoneman's corn farm is closing after this weekend and Ed nicely drove out to be there just as they first unloaded their corn today. He said by the time he left, the line of buyers was more than 30 people deep, that's how much people from around here love their corn! I'll be freezing the kernels for winter soups and possibly Thanksgiving dinner. If there is anything that makes me feel like the next season has arrived, it's shucking and freezing the last of the freshly harvested corn.
But did I do it? Did I freeze bagfuls of corn kernels?
I did not.
I had good intentions, but during Millie's afternoon nap, I had to attend to my mini expansion of the garden. To accommodate those two (or three) remaining roses. I dug out turf. I shoveled out a hole, and when a box arrived from Amazon, I set to building that AC cover fence, in front of which I plan to put in at least two new roses.
Honestly, I'm quite okay at putting things together, so long as no special tools are required. But if reviewers tell me something is complicated and takes hours -- I avoid it like the plague. I feel I could put the time toward better use. When I purchased this fence, I had three imperatives: fast delivery, cheap, fairly easy to assemble. A.I. told me a drill was helpful but not required.
It took a while! Getting the slats aligned, screwing in the screws without a drill -- it took a while. I worked on it on the porch so that Millie could keep me company. Millie and a thousand pollinators, not of the pretty butterfly kind, but irritating waspy looking bugs that chose my arms and legs just to see if there was anything resembling pollen on them. And of course, because the whole thing was cheap, the holes did not align. New ones will have to be drilled. Ed!....
So, it looks like I am still fully immersed in planting, and especially rose planting (though not only -- I have a couple of campanulas to put in -- they will nicely offset the... um, roses!), yes?
Yes.
(that little frog that loved my lilies? It loves my roses too!)
It is my balm, my form of meditation, my hard work (so much sod removal today!), my delight. Well, yes, and then there's Millie. My best companion.
My love.
with so much love...
