Change & Continuity

7 Sep '09 12:37 pm

My thoughts are with you and your family Jack. When the time is right may she go with peace and dignity.

7 Sep '09 6:36 pm

Hello, Jack;

I ask myself, "What can one say at a time like this??" On the one hand, I want to sympathize, yet at the same time I want to say how lucky you are to be there at the end of a good, long life. I was not there for either of my parents' passings, nor the funerals, due to conditions beyond my control. Or so I believed at the time. In hindsight, however, I now realize that nothing is truly beyond us if we really want it, and I've spent many years regretting not being there. You are so very lucky!
And isn't it wonderful that your mother appears to be moving on in springtime, rather than in the depths of winter?

All the best, Jack, at this sad time - I'm sure you've done everything right for her.

-gordonf

7 Sep '09 7:21 pm

Oh Jack.

17 Sep '09 4:49 am

Spring is beautiful here, but I don't get into the garden much, so it is mostly at a distance I admire it. When I do go I come back with flowers for my mom, who is currently frail but not bed-ridden. However she needs careful help from her chair/bed to her wheelchair. She is serene and in good spirits, and I've been able to pick up again on my other responsibilities. I'm camping out in their formal lounge, the gabled room that looks out over the Ellensgate Garden. I write this at dusk in the bay window.

Here is a pic I took two days ago when she first ventured forth from her bedroom. Today she is actually dressed, and has not been in bed since 7am - nearly 12 hours ago! She's eaten at the dining table and spent most of the day in her recliner, which we moved to the sickroom. Right now she is watching television in the family room.

The stained glass window depicts the Sequoia trees after which the farm is named. The other photos I took earlier that day. I am so pleased that I planted sparaxis, an indigenous spring bulb, in the two pots at the entrance this year. We’ve always had miniature or pot roses there, moving them to open ground every year or three. Roses would not be making a show now, and my mother gets endless joy from these flowers.

25 Sep '09 4:54 pm

It is festival time at the moment, and yesterday total strangers, sent by friends, made their way excitedly through the garden and arboritum. It is always lovely to find others who share our joy in the garden.

I went out to photograph the various wisterias, as I am planning a post on my blog. It was lovely to spend an hour or two in the garden. So much this year has been enjoyed in passing, although on Sunday we loaded my mom into my brother's Volvo 4x4, which has seats that drop right down so that she could more easily be moved, and went on a drive around the garden. When she got back to bed she said happily that she had "all those flowers to dream of". The ride was the highlight of two weeks of grace; since then she has weakened, and the end can't be too far off...

25 Sep '09 7:26 pm

Hi, again, Jack!

What great pictures of your spring garden! How long does it take to raise a wisteria from a seed to a blooming plant? I don't seem to even get a plant to bloom!!

What species of bees do you have there? I assume that there must be European honeybees as well as native African ones, but is there a preponderance of one kind over the other in your garden? This year my garden was filled with honeybees - many more than is usual - but very few bumblebees. Can't figure out why...

I just finished planting some Kniphofia seeds that I got from Tasmania a couple of years ago and have been keeping in the refrigerator ever since. These were my back-up ones. I planted others as soon as they arrived and grew them for 2 years, only to have the big, healthy seedlings all freeze to death in last year's awful winter. This time(if any seeds grow), I'll get them into the ground sooner!

All the best, Jack, and remember that my thoughts are with you!

-gordonf

25 Sep '09 7:57 pm

Gorgeous pictures, Jack. Huge (and muddy) hugs from me - thinking of you. M

25 Sep '09 11:23 pm

Gordon, your question has me wondering. I think my father, not I, planted those seeds originally whilst I lived 1400km away in the mid-80s. I planted that seedling after the pumphouse was built about 20 years ago in the late 80s. I seem to remember reading that wisterias take 7 years to flower but we had our first tentative blooms a year or two earlier. Wouldn't swear by the number of years though!

26 Sep '09 10:24 am

Lovely lovely Wisterias Jack.

I have a white one growing up the lean-to by the stables. It was originally a sucker from a friend's place - taken nigh on 8 years ago. It was potted up and plonked in a corner of my mother's garden for 6 years where it surreptitiously stuck roots through the base of the pot and proceeded to strangle her roses, etc. Two years ago it was planted by the stables where it seems happy. BUT... in all these years it has never flowered! I have followed Muddywellies' careful advice about pruning etc but this year again, no flowers. It seems it might have been better to start from seed! Evil or Very Mad

Best wishes to you Jack, and your mother and family at this time.

26 Sep '09 3:15 pm

Beautiful photos. I love the close-up of the bee.

(((Hugs))), thinking of you and your family.

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