Wednesday. That means Yard Day. I clean up, repot, trim, rake, weed, mulch, blow, hose down, compost, or whatever I need to do. It's still hot and sweaty here in East Texas. It's Sweat Weather. Humid "air you can wear". I get dirty and I get excited about it!
I have 3-4 pair of nice gloves somewhere around here. Nitrile, Atlas, all designed to keep my lily-white hands clean and dirt from under my fingernails . Hell if I know where they are? I like to dig in with my bare hands, feel the dirt, feel the moisture, pull those weeds. Gloves are for sissys. How can you get dirty with gloves on? I get dirty and I get excited!
No bra, tank top and shorts are the only way to go in the heat. No one will see me, I promise. This is not the way I like to meet the new neighbors, but believe me, I've done it. I get wet. I get dirty. And I get excited.
Wednesdays never come fast enough for me. So I'd better get to bed.
What's with everyone around here calling me names? First Dh--then the Neighbor? So what I am in my garden in near 100* heat? (Yeah it's cooled down some) I pick off the fallen leaves and pine needles off my hanging plants, stake up some of the tall plants, take a whiff of sweet ginger here and there. Not much hard work going on. It's almost 100* after all. And yet, they call me "Chauncey"? Wasn't Chauncey a guy?! Who us Chauncy Gardener anyway. I thought I would look it up:
From Wikipedia
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby.
snip
Chance (Peter Sellers) is a middle-aged man who lives in the townhouse of an old, wealthy man in Washington D.C. He seems simple-minded and has lived there his whole life tending the garden. Other than gardening, his knowledge is derived entirely from what he sees on television. When his benefactor dies, Chance is forced to leave and discovers the outside world for the first time.
He wanders aimlessly, wearing his former employer's expensive clothes. Chance passes by a TV shop and sees himself captured by a camera in the shop window. Entranced, he steps backward off the sidewalk and is struck by a car owned by Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas), an elderly business mogul.
Rand's wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine) brings Chance to their home to recover. Drinking alcohol for the first time, Chance coughs as he tells them his name. "Chance the Gardener" is misheard as "Chauncey Gardiner". Judging by his appearance and manners, Rand assumes that Chance is an upper class, highly educated business man. Chance's style and seemingly insightful ways embody the qualities Rand admires. Chance's simplistic utterances about gardens are interpreted as allegorical statements about business and the state of the economy.
Rand is also a confidant and adviser of the U.S. President (Jack Warden), whom he introduces to "Chauncey". The president interprets Chance's remarks about how the garden changes with the seasons as economic and political advice. Chance, as Chauncey Gardiner, quickly rises to national public prominence. He becomes a media celebrity with an appearance on a television talk show and soon rises to the top of Washington society. Public opinion polls start to reflect just how much his "simple brand of wisdom" resonates with the jaded American public.
OK, So Chauncey Gardener was not so bad! I guess I will take it as a compliment. I need to see that movie.
We sure got a nice shower from Mom Nature yesterday and last night. And it was a long time in coming! Everyone deserve a good cleansing shower at least every once in awhile. Even plants. LOL Ever notice how sparkling clean and shiny everything looks after a good rain? The plants perk up and seem to be smiling. Everything is a bit greener. Mulches are a nice dark color. And if you're lucky, your patios get washed off.
Me, not so much. As far as I'm concerned, Mom Nature could improve on her clean up skills. My patios, walkways and driveway are a mess after it rains. Mom Nature tends to leave a lot of debris behind in my yard as well. She is careful to wash my plants, and help to discard dead leaves, spend flower petals, and branches. She pushes around pine needles, and gives everyone a good wash. The debris never quite makes it to the end of the driveway or off the roof. So who picks up after Mom Nature? ME!
I'm not complaining! I am never happiest with my gas-powered backpack yard blower strapped to my back once a week or more. If I am lucky, I will have the gas tank cap screwed on tightly so that gasoline won't drip down the back of my legs. I have a route I follow through my yard and I end up with 2-3 very neat piles of debris when all is said and done. It takes an hour. If DH is around, he usually takes care of those piles for me. If not, I'm on my own.
While doing my clean up, I spy the little things I would like to get done in my yard, who needs trimming, who needs transplanting to a bigger pot. etc. I need to carry a note book or something because I usually forget about it when I am through with my task. But it is a good So even though Mom Nature is not so perfect at cleaning, she gives me a reason to spend a moment in my yard. Like, I need a reason?
I am so glad I found this forum. It seems like an active and friendly place. Most of all I can ooh and ahh over your plants and mine, talk endlessly about growing plants, my yard, and everyone here seems to understand. I am just loving all the photos here. I am trying hard to share photos here as well. This is a good place for me. A happy place where I can come often and find happy things to make me smile.
It's hard for my other friends who really don't know much about gardening to understand my enthusiasm for gardening. They ask how I can stand the summer heat, or don't you hate raking all those leaves? They don't understand how mowing the lawn or blowing off the debris on my patio makes me happy. They look at their yard as work. I look at my yard as happiness of the purest kind. I am addicted to happiness. I am addicted to this kind of happiness.
When I see a flower, it makes me smile. Even if it isn't in my own garden. Even if it isn't mine. It still makes me smile. Such a gift we have before us! Growing smiles. That's what we do.
This is not an obsession. How can anyone call happiness and obsession? I simply like being happy and I know how to get it. I think everyone deserves to be happy. I think most people like being happy, even the unhappy people. I also think most people are in awe of flowers and green things and secretly, it makes then happy whether they know it or not. I tell you one thing, I know flowers and green things make me happy.
Thanks for having me.
