Dear Maria,
I will freely admit chagrin.
And you may be assured that on your behalf I have been chided, admonished even. Rather than the opinionistas, your birthday card clucking about my 64th has put me in my place here at my desk again. After nearly 9 months. Oh, yes, I checked.
And you were right about how settled into this new landscape I have become. As you know, I have had yard canvasses to work with before, but never quite so large and quite so blank. The house sits up on a bit of an unshaded knob to be thoroughly broiled by the solar engine, and so I have planted 12 trees intended to produce shade asap. Of course, I am willing to anticipate results that may be 3 to 5 years out, or even 10-15 should I be shuffling around this property then.
I did tell a former student that I seem to have a temperament for delayed results. Indeed.
Then one thing led to another--how banal that phrase, but onward--and I planted a number of fruit trees--apples, peaches, jujubes--and then cucumbers, squash, melons, tomatoes, and beans. Oh, and I started a nursery of trees and plants, which now has about 40 different species growing in around 300 containers.
No doubt you are laughing, or smiling wryly, to think of me planting for food. Blame one of my neighbors who is quite the gardener. He corrupts me with the vegetables, and I retaliate by talking up trees and shrubs. We toss cherry tomatoes to each other from yard to yard. My mother is calling us the Hardy Boys of gardening. He would be the younger Joe in this duo.
I am still out of bed before dawn each day. Now morning coffee includes rounds to check on what is breaking leaf, fruiting, blooming, or in some kind of trouble. The rhythm of the days turns by the arrival and departure of geese on the lake, the first birds of the morning, the last few at dusk.
In truth, I am at a point where I often can be wrong about the day of the week--twice in one week, as has happened. Daytime heating dictates my activities more than the calendar, clocks run forward without signifying much by way of beginning or ending times. A day, a week, an hour or two, all ease by.
But now you are reinserted into the rollcall of what deserves attending to. I will stay in touch. Exactly when, well I cannot say.
May all be the very best for you and your family.
Yours,
srk
