Common things that suddenly sound special
I broke my ankle very badly 7 weeks ago. I’m in a cast and won’t be able to put any weight on my left left leg for months.
Ken has been taking wonderful care of me. Here’s a list of all the things – simple yet really important things – he’s been doing every day to help me heal. If I needed a good lesson in friendship and how important we are to each other – this was it.
Ken with the p pot and flower
Ken brings me breakfast in bed every morning
Makes me coffee or gets it from Murray’s down the street
Helps me up the fifteen stairs to the top floor every night
Brings me Vitamin C in a small glass to drink
Shops for all the groceries
Takes me to Dr. appointments
Listens to me
Loves me (Ken added that one)
Cleans the dishes and kitchen
Puts out the trash
Finds and gets my eyeglasses from downstairs
Empties the portable potty downstairs
Cheers me up
Hammers nails in the floor
Brings me flowers from the garden
Waters my newly planted dogwood…
…and so much more.
I am also touched by all my friends who brought over food or helped water and weed the garden or took me out for lunch or just came over to chat. Simple things that mean so much.
A spritz party
The Tivoli Garden Tour came to visit my garden and tea house. Instead of making everyone tea I hosted a Veneziano Spritz “ceremony”.
Ice bucket, silver tray with wine glasses, Perrier, Aperol and Prosecco. Someone added ice to the glasses, I poured the Prosecco with a good splash of Aperol (made from Orange and Rhubarb) and then a dash of Perrier. Kampai everyone!
To describe how I feel about my tea house and garden I read this poem by Wang Wei (699-759)
Late in life, I built a cottage at the foot of South Mountain.
When the feeling comes, I walk there alone;
Wonderousness vainly known to me alone.
Walking I reach where the waters well forth;
Sitting, I watch the moment clouds arise.
I chance to meet an old woodcutter,
And our words and laughter know no hour of return.
Garlic scapes
A friend gave me some garlic scapes this summer. Instead of roasting and eating them, I put them in a vase with some Hostas. Very Victorian. The vase is by Frances Palmer.
Planting spring bulbs
Fall is a most wonderful time and one gets quite excited about planting bulbs for spring. I have visions of my front lawn carpeted with bright blue scillia and early flowering crocus so this fall I ordered lots of bulbs to plant. It is most distressing when they arrive to realize you have ordered hundreds of tiny corms that need individual planting, one-by-one.
Seiko came up for the weekend and it took the two us at least the morning to dig the bulbs.
But what Sei Shonagon would call “things later regretted” is to go to the mail box a week later and find a box FULL of twenty five more bulbs to plant.
Come back later this spring and I’m sure the crocus, scillia, frittalaria, muscari, allium, chionodoxa and leucojum will all be found under her category of “things that make you feel cheerful”.
