Monday Meander - June 8, 2020

Report from the blankie fort - Week 13

Today rounds out a glorious trilogy of perfect summer days - windows wide open days blessed by sunshine, warm temperatures but not hot, very low humidity, gentle breezes, and cool nights perfect for sleeping. Perfect days for extended time in the yard outside the blankie fort.

I had the best weekend I've had in months!  I did not step outside my property boundaries. The only people I saw, other than my husband were neighbours saying hello as they walked by. It was just me and the garden. I got my hands good and dirty in the cool earth planting tomatoes, basil, cilantro, and parsley in the stacked planter and sweet William in the big tub at the end of the drive.

I hauled out the old brick edging that I'd laid down some fifteen years ago and replaced it with edging made from recycled car tires. 

Before: (taken at Easter time)

After: 

I took apart and re-built the rock & shell garden.

Before:

 

After:

 

I chatted with the wildlife as I worked. 

With apologies to Dr. Suess,

It came without parties. It came without people. 

It came without concerts, plays, or parades. 

And I puzzled and puzzled 'till my puzzler was sore.

How could it be that the old curmudgeon found so much to adore?   

Simply because I and I alone accomplished a visible change in my environment. There is now something outside my door that I can point to and say, "See, I did that! I made a difference."

So many times during these pandemic weeks of isolation and angst I have been plagued by a sense of uselessness, a feeling that I'm doing little more than treading water. In the early weeks that was good enough, but as the state of emergency kept being extended, treading water was not nearly good enough at all. Too often I found myself drowning in an empty self-esteem bucket. Well, that bucket is overflowing today with more than enough self-confidence to get through at least another week, and even more. 

It is still good to live in this fine and pleasant land pandemic restrictions and all. It's far from perfect, there is much work to be done, many wrongs to be righted, but it is good enough for me right now to make a difference in the world between my front door and the road.

Keep on keeping on. Stay safe. Stay sane.

Be well!

©2020 April Hoeller