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Claiming a stake
Today I discovered I was wrong about the Solomon's seal and lilies-of-the-valley. They weren't dead, just a bit slow to emerge. There's even one coming up in plot alongside the alley, where I thought nothing had survived (apart from the Dutch irises). Plant are even coming up in places where I'd forgotten I'd planted anything: a clump of lilies near the new dogwoods, a second satellite wood aster.
A month ago, I bought a bundle of green-dyed bamboo stakes to mark out several plants in hopes of saving them from the tuckpointers. Some days later, I looked out again to find that they were all gone. Not a few here and there (as I would expect from random passerby vandalism) but every last one of them. I guess someone was walking by and decided they had more need of them than we did?
Even more curious, I was reconnoitering yesterday and found several of the wooden stakes I'd used to enclose the saplings missing as well. These weren't like tent poles, but they were substantial; I'd used a mallet to pound them into the ground. Of course, when I'd pulled a couple up in order to reposition a tree or two, I'd done so barehanded. I shook my head and made a mental note to replace them if time ever allowed.
Then that afternoon, I got a text from my botanist neighbour across the street. He'd found a couple in the alley and scooped them up for himself, but realising they were mine while passing by the property, he dutifully returned them. He also invited me over for a bite on the back porch in the unseasonably fine weather with his sister-in-law. She was a delight, and they fed me even though I'd come well after they'd finished eating.
His theatre prof husband was recovering from surgery, having had a device implanted in his lower back to relieve pain, and had already retired. I listened with polite forbearance to their tale of woe. ("Three hours in recovery before they assigned him a room!" Oh, the horror of it.) It was such a relief from our marathon day of specialist visits that I didn't want to leave, but I still managed to head out before I was turfed out.
Tomorrow Nuphy plans to visit the GWO so Mom and I can join![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bunj for a little picnic in the park. I have to say, that's damn clever solution to the problem of where to go for Mother's Day, if a damn impractical one in Chicago most years. innerdoggie and tyrannio plan to stop by later. All of them have some experience with catastrophic illness and drawn-out recoveries, so I'm hoping they'll be able to buck up the Old Man somewhat (not to mention me).
A month ago, I bought a bundle of green-dyed bamboo stakes to mark out several plants in hopes of saving them from the tuckpointers. Some days later, I looked out again to find that they were all gone. Not a few here and there (as I would expect from random passerby vandalism) but every last one of them. I guess someone was walking by and decided they had more need of them than we did?
Even more curious, I was reconnoitering yesterday and found several of the wooden stakes I'd used to enclose the saplings missing as well. These weren't like tent poles, but they were substantial; I'd used a mallet to pound them into the ground. Of course, when I'd pulled a couple up in order to reposition a tree or two, I'd done so barehanded. I shook my head and made a mental note to replace them if time ever allowed.
Then that afternoon, I got a text from my botanist neighbour across the street. He'd found a couple in the alley and scooped them up for himself, but realising they were mine while passing by the property, he dutifully returned them. He also invited me over for a bite on the back porch in the unseasonably fine weather with his sister-in-law. She was a delight, and they fed me even though I'd come well after they'd finished eating.
His theatre prof husband was recovering from surgery, having had a device implanted in his lower back to relieve pain, and had already retired. I listened with polite forbearance to their tale of woe. ("Three hours in recovery before they assigned him a room!" Oh, the horror of it.) It was such a relief from our marathon day of specialist visits that I didn't want to leave, but I still managed to head out before I was turfed out.
Tomorrow Nuphy plans to visit the GWO so Mom and I can join
bunj for a little picnic in the park. I have to say, that's damn clever solution to the problem of where to go for Mother's Day, if a damn impractical one in Chicago most years. innerdoggie and tyrannio plan to stop by later. All of them have some experience with catastrophic illness and drawn-out recoveries, so I'm hoping they'll be able to buck up the Old Man somewhat (not to mention me).