her able hands

Yesterday was one of those days where I hear the words coming out of my mouth and want to clap my mouth shut on them, hold them back in, reel them back in, but can’t. The complaints a nonstop hemorrhage. But I arrived home to another thunderstorm rolling in from the southwest and the entire neighborhood so green and bursting with buds.

We had plans to meet another family at Ray’s Place for dinner at 7:30, so while Chris took a shower, and Ty chipped away at his homework, Lila and I took a walk around the property to check on progress.

This cheered me considerably:

I didn’t think the peas would come up at all, first because the seed was from 2004, and second because I planted them a month ago and we had those two weeks of freezing cold and snow. I figured they rotted in the ground. But look! So many sprouts pushing up beneath the branches! The radish are coming on strong, too. I want to get some lettuce planted this weekend so the harvest all comes together for an excellent salad.

Here’s the pile of Comfrey that I still have to plant. Aren’t the kitty litter containers so pretty?

Gawd. Chris saw this shot when I was uploading the camera and said he wants to spray paint all of the buckets so they don’t look so cheesy. He’s so cute. They’re truly indispensable buckets, and I use them all over the garden every year (after a thorough scrubbing, of course). The Comfrey looks so happy from the rains.

After we walked around saying hello to all of the plants in the yard, we headed down to the street to get some photos of the crab apples in bloom. Apparently this street used to be lined with healthy elms, but about 25 years ago, the city cut them all down and planted these scruffy trees that all of the old-timers in the hood hate, but truth be told, made me swoon last spring when we were putting an offer on the house. I mean, honestly, look at this…

Take a stroll under the blossoms South out the driveway…

or North past Grandma and Grandpa’s house. That’s their front lawn with the sign just visible past the hedge of Lilac and Laurel. The sign says “Support our Senior Citizens”.

I remember last spring so clearly. We drove into town several days a week for homeschool activities and I always rolled past the property, often pulling into the driveway if the owner wasn’t home, to sit and watch the greening going on, feeling the pull of yes please, this can be home.

She kept the place so immaculately neat. But her children were grown, so she didn’t have a yard full of toys and play equipment. Her garage was practically empty, just the car and a few tools, the lawnmower. Chris on the other hand has that building stuffed to the gills. There’s hardly room to walk around inside, and all of the stuff that we would normally store in a building is out on the lawn. It doesn’t look as nice and that makes me feel a little guilty, as if we haven’t held up our end of the bargain to take good care of the place she lived her entire adult life. But we’re getting there. The shed WILL go up this summer and we’ll clean things up more.

And when I walk around the neighborhood, I know that while maybe I don’t super-love living in Ohio, so far away from my birth family, I do love living here in this place so much more than I did out in the country. I’m beginning to make some connections, to feel like I belong. These pink blossoms overhead feel like a gift, a reminder to come back down to earth when I get home, to let go of the mental place of trying and striving and feeling not good enough. Shelter. I’m so fortunate to have such wonderful shelter. And place. And people. So, so fortunate.

So! Ohio! This is it for who knows how long. The Buckeye State. Last night it felt as if the Buckeye unfurled the red (er…green) carpet to welcome me home.

Technorati Tags: home, Ohio, neighborhood, garden, green

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