Thursday, June 30, 2011

I'll Be Seeing You




  
I'm at my favorite getaway spot on the Cape for a few days,  hoping for a little bit of relaxation, but honestly feeling like the maintenaince man for the last three. 


Painting furniture AGAIN, (somehow not a day goes by without a paintbrush of some sort in my hands), general cleaning which feels like it's never done, washing 12 over 12 double hungs which have 10 months of salt spray blurring their panes,  calling for repairs on things I can't fix myself, etc, etc, etc.  I know I shouldn't complain, but . . . 


 Every year there's always one huge situation at the beginning of the season.  Our first season back in '91, it was the October No Name Storm . . . aka the Perfect Storm.  In addition to the horrible loss of the Gloucester fishing vessel and crew, it took out every last coastal dune shrub and beach grass clump we had planted and sent them all out to sea before we even got the bill.  Small change in comparison to the human devastation, but nevertheless it was a sign of things to come living in a coastal area.   Another year it was the oil tank leak.  Then another a well replacement.  Did I mention the electrical storm which shorted out the furnace, blew all our major appliances and froze the pipes which caused a major flood in the kitchen?



This year it's the irrigation system.



The landscapers inadvertently cut the line to the pump, so the lawn had been getting zero water for about a month before we found out about it.  Needless to say, the sight of the ugly brown 25 square feet or so of dead grass in the middle of the lawn was not making me feel relaxed, especially since a houseful of people were due to arrive in a few days.  



My biggest fear was that my best garden bud Jackson, who tears through the yard after rabbits at lightning speed, would make a pothole heaven anywhere there was bare dirt.  Which would NOT be a good thing for my Jack, who (all that b-ball has taken a toll) has ankles which turn over on a pebble.  This could be a nightmare.




Some would say I am a bit of a nut when it comes to the look of my garden anyway, and, since this could not have happened at a worse time, the sod has been called in.


.
The good news is that the guys doing the work are amazing, and almost finished . . .


  
thank you Rick & Rob . .  


so, I decided to take the rest of the day off, stop worrying about everybody and everthing, and do some relaxing work in the garden.
As I was moving some plants around,  




and deciding where to put these roses . . .




 I was thinking about moving some of the garden ornaments around as well.  Just to SWITCH things up.













 Then I got the call from the shop.  Bittersweet.
She's gone.  I knew we wouldn't have her for long.  And I never even got to say goodbye.


Our beautiful Greek Statue, yet unamed, was being carried out the door.  SOLD.  Just like that.  Somehow, I knew she wouldn't stay around too long.  But I'm just so happy that her lovely new owner, a gardener and an artist, will be placing her exactly where she belongs . . . outside in a gorgeous garden. 









 Things happen right?, but despite all the mini disasters that eventually resolve, I really LOVE this place and am SO grateful for it:)


I'll be coming home with some incredible things for the shop.  I just know it.  Stop in one of these days and say hi!



In the meantime, wishing you all a wonderful July 4th weekend!