I'm sure that if Thoreau were alive today, he couldn't wait to come in from the great outdoors, sit down at his computer and blog. Since the rainy season appears to be over, I tackled 'the yard' yesterday. 'The Yard' is about as big as a postage stamp and greets our guests as it is in the front, but it's totally overgrown with vegetation and a single, small olive tree stuck right in the middle.
Identifiable plants include some good ones: the olive tree, rosemary, sweet pea, thistle. (Yes, thistle is Scotland's national flower. And didn't you pretend thistle flowers were powder puffs when you were growing up?) Bad: Nettles, nettles, nettles....reminding me of the time in the warmer Bavarian season when Flint led me through some as we walked through the beautiful countryside in shorts, and the movie, "The Magdalena Sisters." Ouch!
The NEX (Navy Exchange) had no snippers or clippers in their gardening section; therefore, I bought Henckel kitchen scissors that weren't even made in Germany. And I started snipping away at the yard. During my second trip to Europe years ago, I recall the workers using scissors to trim carefully around the grave markers in the American Cemetery of Normandy. My snipping is more slash and pile. I knew 'the cats' had been around as they love to sun on the lava rocks that form the base of the fence. One left shortly after I started snipping.
Today I uncovered a rock about the size of Plymouth's, a maze of various sized rocks, a faucet, cat tunnels and the stench of 'the cats.' Oh, my Law! I trimmed nettles away from rosemary, left the thistles, cut out masses of an unknown plant, left plants that must produce some variety of gourd or squash, mistakenly cut the sweet peas three times, and didn't worry a bit as plants grow quickly here. And from 'the yard', a beautiful view of Etna still with quite a bit of snow on her shoulders.
Identifiable plants include some good ones: the olive tree, rosemary, sweet pea, thistle. (Yes, thistle is Scotland's national flower. And didn't you pretend thistle flowers were powder puffs when you were growing up?) Bad: Nettles, nettles, nettles....reminding me of the time in the warmer Bavarian season when Flint led me through some as we walked through the beautiful countryside in shorts, and the movie, "The Magdalena Sisters." Ouch!
The NEX (Navy Exchange) had no snippers or clippers in their gardening section; therefore, I bought Henckel kitchen scissors that weren't even made in Germany. And I started snipping away at the yard. During my second trip to Europe years ago, I recall the workers using scissors to trim carefully around the grave markers in the American Cemetery of Normandy. My snipping is more slash and pile. I knew 'the cats' had been around as they love to sun on the lava rocks that form the base of the fence. One left shortly after I started snipping.
Today I uncovered a rock about the size of Plymouth's, a maze of various sized rocks, a faucet, cat tunnels and the stench of 'the cats.' Oh, my Law! I trimmed nettles away from rosemary, left the thistles, cut out masses of an unknown plant, left plants that must produce some variety of gourd or squash, mistakenly cut the sweet peas three times, and didn't worry a bit as plants grow quickly here. And from 'the yard', a beautiful view of Etna still with quite a bit of snow on her shoulders.
A note since yesterday: The photo is of a half-scissored garden and Olivia the Garden Cat. She naps under the olive tree, and her eyes are green like ripe olives. She stayed with me all day today, and I am a bit concerned that she may be pregnant and not able to get through the fence ....or she's on her last leg. The wind has blown fiercely today, and she just moves from one spot to the other.
Photo, please? It's amazing, isn't it, that the NEX garden section carries no gardening equipment like that . . . And Castorama is out of business, I heard?
ReplyDeleteI hope you are going to feed that kitty! She can live outside but she needs food and water!
ReplyDeleteI learned last weekend not to trim a pampas grass bush without gloves and long sleeves. I looked like Jan Scissorhands had gotten ahold of me!
ReplyDeleteLovely post about your work in the garden. Such good therapy. Green eyes like ripe olives...I like it.
ReplyDelete