We tour the yard together, watering cans in hand and Guinivere asks me, “What is this flower, Nonna?” “What is that flower?” I tell her the names and she commits them to heart. Gavin loves the veggies, but Guini says, “I love the flowers!”
A little project Guini and I did for her birthday ~ because ~ I LOVE my little flower girl!
Dear Guini~ Sorry your birthday kinda got rolled over by the Heaven Fest train, but we are still just gonna celebrate you and love you like crazy. Party coming up! Love you, Guini-Poo! xxxooo ~ Nonna
I venture deep into the north fence shrubs (or at least 3 or 4 feet) just before the sun breaks above the eastern horizon. The warmth of my body and the carbon dioxide I emit arouses the mosquito, weak from the night temperatures and the lack of life in the dark.
The alert is sounded, the village of them swells with hope.
“Revival!” they shout.
“We have waited for it, longed for it, prayed for it to come. Revive us, o garden lord,” in unison the sing.
The leader comes in close giving courage to the rest, “O, yes, we have heard of your fame – how you have fed us and revived us in the past; how you have made it possible for us to go on. Do it again in our day, o lord of this garden. Do it again in our day.”
Glee is apparent. Great joy begins to swirl. From my expansive perspective I look down as they approach. I wait for them to land.
As the sun breaks into the day, but before the wetness of night has been lifted (when the scent of youth camps past seem to run barefoot by almost unnoticed), the question is: whatever shall I do about the zucchini? Yes. That is the question.
Shall I allow them to procreate madly, growing ounces by the hour (pounds by the day, don’t go there people) during this lush time of their season? Shall I nightly pick baby zuchs and slice them into long, thick chunks? And then should I drizzle them in olive oil and top them with Kosher salt and juices from crushed garlic and maybe some dill or Mrs. Dash right before I place them on a ready-sizzling grill where they will just start to carmalize before I enjoy their hot succulence? For a grilled slice of zucchini is, indeed, one of life’s most glorious pleasures, though as yet so undiscovered by the masses. It is a part of achieving true happiness in life.
Yet, the quandry arises while taking the early-morning count of the fruit. For one cannot help but notice the explosive, welcoming bright yellow flora that rise up to greet. Bees happily visiting flower to flower pay me no mind and have no idea that I am wondering if I should forego the zucchini soon to be birthed from this floral friend? For the flower of the jade squash is edible too and in this fashion, dipping and bathing it in a light, frothy tempura batter, then deep frying in to a crsipy blossom…why, this also is a gourmet delight, delectible in every way.
One cannot overstate the stress a gardener faces every day. So many decisions.
Why Tennyson? Because I was watching Anne of Green Gables(is she not adorable?) and Anne was quoting him. I read his version of a summer night after recently trying to express my summer night thoughts and I wonder how on earth I shall ever be able to express, or communicate what I wish to say with such dripping clarity, such thought-provoking imagery? Woe is me.
Quotes from Anne Shirley~
Mrs. Cadbury: Tell me what you know about yourself.
Anne Shirley: Well, it really isn’t worth telling, Mrs. Cadbury… but if you let me tell you what I IMAGINE about myself you’d find it a lot more interesting.
{ Anne Shirley: Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it. }
Diana Barry: I wish I were rich, and I could spend the whole summer at a hotel, eating ice cream and chicken salad.
Anne Shirley: You know something, Diana? We are rich. We have sixteen years to our credit, and we both have wonderful imaginations. We should be as happy as queens.
[gestures to the setting sun]
Anne Shirley: Look at that. You couldn’t enjoy its loveliness more if you had ropes of diamonds.
And you pick red tomatoes and pop cherries into your mouth. You gather baby zucchini from the garden while crunching on crispy green beans. You bring in fresh broccoli and snap peas and lettuce. You pinch thyme and sage and basil. You grill just to the point of carmelization and the sweetness of the garden lunch makes all the work heretofore quite worth it.
The reward of my labors? Today I picked ripe tomatoes. Can you comprehend the profundity of that? Dare you?
Good, and I mean really good, times.
NOTE TO MY LONGSUFFERIG READERS: Last year at just about the exact same time? Read here!
And the backyard is still, quiet, save for the slight rustling of green leaves and the sound of the pond, water spilling over rocks. The heat of the day has evaporated and the solar lights lining the garden paths twinkle as best they can. Christmas lights in full-leafed trees cast romantic, dancing shadows.
The backyard is magic tonight, I think to myself.
I am wondering what this absolutely perfect tempertaure is, this moment of complete faultlessness? The hour is blue*, for the sun is barely dropped. A cricket crowns the evening with his song for love. Neighbor’s homes glow softly and the stars appear to bid me well, one by one.
In that moment I miss everyone I love and wish each could share this perfectly ripe moment of utter sublimity with me. Sigh. I am a melancholy soul, yes?
A summer night in Brighton, Colorado
Last night was just one of those nights. Aaaahh, mmm…I love summer.
What sort of wee ones surround me? I know I tend toward “the glass is half empty” but I don’t necessarily think that is a bad way to look at things. It keeps me pushing for more and zealously pursuing what I actually want to see in the glass. Yes, I overcompensate, but then I never run out! How much does it really say, anyway? It made me ponder my little grandbebes.
Gavin, 7. The glass is half-full, of course. Everything will be alright. There is a way to solve any problem, plenty to go around. Just look for it. Keep a good attitude and chin up and all things will work out fine.
Hunter, 5. It’s not half-full or half-empty. It is in the middle. It is what it is. That is how I wanted it and so that is where it will be. Not a drop more or less.
Guini, almost 5. Why is this all I get? How much did the boys get? More, please. The glass seems half empty. Sensitive to what’s right and true justice, Guini will come back for more until she has had her fill. Then she will smile with contentment.
Gemma, 3. The glass is delightfully half full. “Look how much I have!!” In fact-even just a drop in the bottom of the cup will cause GemGem to twirl with delight and satisfaction, full of gratitude and laughter.
Averi. I will fill my own glass, thank-you very much. And I will also sweet-talk you out of some of yours. Give it! She is 2. : )
Amelie, 3 months. Remains to be seen. But we currently make sure her glass is full to the brim.
There are just things you can learn about God and life and love from the simple act of gardening. So it’s a good thing to do with kids, whether in small form like letting them draw their face on a paper cup and then growing some grass seed for hair (a homemade Chia) or maybe letting them choose and take care of a potted plant, to actually building them a little square wooden box and letting them grow veggies (the ones they know they like and the ones they will like after they have grown them!).
Here is a list of the reasons I want my grandbebes to garden with me. And why all kids would benefit!!
1.
Dirt is fun. And dirt is creativity! God actually made man from the soil in a garden. I want the kiddos to know they can plant a seed and nurture life, too, just like their Creator! And making mud just for mud’s sake is alright, too! PLUS? Bugs!
2.
Patience. The seed goes into the ground and we wait to see it sprout. The plant is plopped into a hole and we wait for the fruit. In between the beginning and the end, there is watching the tempertaure, the watering, the sunshine, getting rid of competing weeds. It is a good thing to learn to wait with hopeful expectancy!
3.
Poop makes stuff grow – fast! The hard things in life that get dumped on us? They cause us to become better and stronger. I once accidentally dropped some watermelon seeds near a nice, aging pile of manure I was going to spread. The vines erupted like they were from the land of the giants. The plants were enormous and the fruit was amazingly sweet. Manure is good for the soul.
4.
Sometimes I have to tie vines against a support stake. Sure they’d rather just meander off in every direction, but the tying is necessary. While to the vine being tied it could look like it is being controlled and bound, but the truth is, the plant will actually thrive and produce more because the leaves are arranged to receive sunlight and the soil below can now get the moisture and feeding it needs. Support is a good thing when you know you need it and especially when you don’t.
5.
You’re pruned if you do and pruned if you don’t. Pruning-It is a cut. There is no way around it. Sprawling huge shrubbery that are leafing and flowering are difficult to approach with the pruners. But if you don’t? It will become long and leggy, overgrown and weak. And when allowed to go on in that state, it will lose its beauty and much of its fruitfulness. Jesus said He’d prune every branch that wasn’t fruiting and He’d prune every branch that was pruning so it would produce more. He knew His gardening! So see? You ARE pruned if you do and pruned if you don’t, so we may as well let Him do in us what we must do to our plants. And everywhere you cut, life explodes in every direction, making the plant stronger and thicker and healthier and more wonderful!
6.
God will bless you to be a blessing. He gives seed to the sower. When I started gardening and didn’t have a clue – just mentioning that very fact brought out the giver in all the gardeners I knew. They hooked me up with starts and seeds and plants and tips. I, in turn, had a wildly successful first garden year and blessed every single person I knew with so many tomatoes and zucchini and onions and radishes and peppers…they all started running from me.
7.
Bees are our friends. According to The Bee Movie with Jerry Seinfeld, bees are becoming extinct. I am not sure if that is so, but I know we haul our Colorado bees to California wine country during the winter and then back again for farming season here. There are less bees now and that is true. And bees are the great pollinators. They are wonderful and NOT aggressive. You can work side by side in the garden with the bees just a few inches away on your prettiest flowers and to them? You are just a landmark. I want the kiddies to know that there is a purpose for the bee and they shouldn’t be afraid…
8.
Deadheading is a necessary part of having fabulous flowers. When the bloom has passed, remove it so the bright lovelies can shine.
9.
You have to prepare the soil to have your plants grow. You cannot just plop something in this hard, rocky, clay-ey Colorado dirt and have it grow. In fact the only things that will grow in this native soil are weeds. If you want a good garden, you’ve gotta amend. You have got to add decomposing matter and time-released fertilizer and manure and compost and hummus and vermiculite. You have got to make sure what is in the pot or the garden plot is ready to receive and surround and care for the seed or young plant. Thought and preparation are so important for any wonderful project in life!
10.
Gardening? It’s messy, hard work. But anything worth having is! Oui?
11.
The great joy of the fruit of your labors will finally and most certainly happen! One day the flowers will blossom and the veggies will become edible. One day the tree will provide shade and the grass will be so green. And rejoicing! Zany-crazy-happy dancing! Cartwheels and hallelujahs! You actuallty get to REAP what you have sown! Glory be! No joy quite like it!
12.
Everything between God and man started in a garden. I want the grandbebes to know that God will meet them there, that they’ll hear His voice whispering in the wind and see His majesty at the first fully ripe beefsteak tomato. I want them to know He will talk to them and give them understanding in the garden just like He did with Adam and Eve. And that sometimes He’ll ask them, like He did with Adam: “Where are you?” Not because He doesn’t know, but because He’ll want to know if they understand where they are in life right at that moment, if they comprehend how the lives they are living and the choices they are making are affecting their futures.
Yes. I want my grandbebes to know that I have found Him in the garden and they can, too.
It isn’t too late to do some fun gardening with the little tykes this summer!…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Go check in on the grandbebe gardens and assist as needed.
A mild and lovely 4th ~ which got a thorough summer soaking complete with rolling thunder around 9 o’clock in the evening, thereby ruining patriotic fireworks displays around the metro-area (the show may go on, check your local news agencies for possible events tonight), has become a bright, sunny, wet backyard morning. The orange-bellied American robin prances around the yard and gardens with great satisfaction, having her fill of an insect-breakfast and refreshing sips from raindrop-covered leaves.
“I’d really rather just enjoy the morning,” she gently resists me. Dropping her eyes and brushing her apron demurely she explains, “I was not prepared to be photographed this morning.”
Oh well. Ok.
Nonetheless ~ The leaves dance. The flowers stand fully gratified with the evening’s gift. The tomatoes swell. All sparkles. Everything is clean. Pretty morning. Quite nice.
