Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2008. Mattie was six years old. Mattie literally built a car lift out of tinker toys and had his battery powered car on top of it and he was looking at all the mechanics underneath! Sometimes I just loved watching how Mattie's mind worked! 

Quote of the day: Gardening is the work of a lifetime: You never finish. ~ Oscar de la Renta

This morning, after dropping my dad off at the memory care center, I headed back to Lowe's. I have visited this store about three times now. I always go on a weekday morning, when there are no crowds. I have gotten to know one of the women who works in the garden center. She saw me today and she literally asked me..... did you plant the things you just bought on Monday? When I told her that I did and that I wouldn't buy more plants until the ones I previously bought were planted, she response was.... you are working so hard. You must be exhausted! How are you doing all of this?

My response to her..... the key is to do it a little at a time. Of course, if she knew the real circus show and issues I face daily, then she would know that planting was the least of my problems. Planting and gardening is my mental health outlet. 

This afternoon at around 4pm, I started planting. I had about two hours to work outside, until I had to focus on dinner at 6pm. I started by planting flowers on the porch. 

This is one of my tribute areas on the porch to Mattie. The angel was given to me, shortly after Mattie died, by Toni. Toni is Brandon's mom, and as many of you know Brandon was Mattie's closest buddy during his cancer journey, as both fellows were diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2008. I also have dragonfly and butterfly garden stakes in the pots, and a Mattie Miracle memory stone on the bottom shelf. 

Shortly after moving into the house, my husband bought beautiful flower pots and planted perennials. For the most part these plants have been hardy and made it through several winters. Winter of 2025, killed many of the plants and today, I redid the area. 

The wall is where I grow the herbs I use for my summer meals! 

These flower pots also host perennials, but like the other area above, many of the plants died in the winter, and today, I replanted several perennials. I added blanket flower, red dragon, and dianthus. 

I can't get enough of seeing these irises! This is the first year I got them to bloom!

This is my annual flower area. In this area I planted hibiscus, blue salvia, red verbena, and calibrachoa. 

When we first bought this house, this flower bed was a disaster. We transformed this area with roses of all kinds. I started working in this area today, pulled out weeds and shaped the hydrangeas that are behind the roses. There is a fountain in the center of this garden and a beautiful crape myrtle tree! There are ornamental grasses in the front of this flower bed. You should see what they looked like before I cut them back today!

To maintain these gardens is a daily chore for me. I take one area at a time, and when I tell you that I weed everyday of the summer months, I am not kidding. All of this is very therapeutic for me, given what I am balancing inside the house and emotionally. Yes I still have carpal tunnel syndrome, but ironically when I am working outside and in the dirt, I have no pain. My pain starts when I sit or type!