Smothered by Glory

Two or three years ago, neighbor Shawn gave me Morning Glory seeds. I scattered them only once, and they’ve come back bigger and better every year. Each morning while daughter Kate was here, we counted the blooms. I think there were 28 one morning. I thought one tendril was reaching out to a mystery weed/tree nearby. I left that plant growing, wanting to see what its blooms were like. Well, now it is being strangled and smothered by the morning glory vine. I’m okay with that, since the buds never blossomed. In my opinion, it didn’t deserve to live.

While scattering coffee grounds in skunk holes in the garden, I went closer to the vine. It had reached out, grabbed the weed/tree, and pulled it close to the house. It was no longer standing on its own. [The images below turned themselves sideways. I redid them for an hour, but they refused to show the way they were taken. I am disgusted and have given up for the day.]

I moved to one side to get a different angle, and the entanglement can be seen clearly. This change took place in three days!

I’m now having second thoughts about the wickedness of the wisteria plant on the pergola. It often waved tendrils toward the house, which I took as an aggressive action. It looks quite tame now, after Kate and David trimmed it last week. I’m thinking the morning glory vine is the real killer, and much closer to my living space. I’m sure I’m safe this year, but I shall be on guard next spring when new plants spring up. If they are bigger and stronger and faster than these, I could be in real danger.

End of Kate’s Visit

The day before daughter Kate drove home, we went to church with David. He was in the choir, so we could see him all during the service. We met in the kitchen area for the coffee hour. I suspect he doesn’t take time to eat breakfast on Sunday mornings, so he enjoys the food set out there. A woman came up to our table and introduced herself. She was looking at Kate and me. A woman sitting next to me said our names and mentioned we were David’s mother and grandmother. The standing woman had excitement in her voice as she asked, “OUR DAVID????” That’s when she saw him sitting with us. David is a favorite there, and it tickles our hearts that people always respond to him with great enthusiasm.

Restaurants are crowded after church, so we drove by several of our favorites and saw long lines of people waiting to get in. David mentioned Waynesville Pizza, and I thought that was a good idea. It isn’t open on Fridays when he and I go out for lunch, and he has been wanting to go there. This was perfect. We ordered a medium-sized pizza to share. Because David is a thin, bottomless pit, he suggested loaded fries as an appetizer. The plate was HUGE. The hot fries were covered with cheese and bacon pieces, and there was ranch dressing for dipping. We couldn’t finish it. We did demolish the pizza, and David took the rest of the fries home.

I got up at my usual time on Monday, and Kate finished loading her car. She left about the time I usually walk, so I followed her on foot. She was probably almost through the gorge before I got back home.

We chatted on the phone three or four times as she drove to New Jersey. I am always relieved to know she is through the gorge, where the road is still being repaired after the hurricane destroyed sections of it. A line of traffic was behind a large truck, which was just as well. It was quite foggy there. The fog lifted, and traffic moved well until she began to hit rain off and on much of the way home. At least it wasn’t a huge storm system with heavy rain. She got home in record time, making it in twelve and a half hours. Even at her age, I would never have considered such a drive by myself. I stay amazed that it doesn’t faze her at all.

Work and Fun

The day began with fun. Daughter Kate, grandson David, and I were walking to the stop sign when Bob and Shawn stopped in their car to chat with us. The action was very quick, because another car came up behind them just as CAT jumped on the hood of their car. I was able to get one very quick shot before Bob slowly rolled forward. Of course, CAT jumped to safety.

The big job of the day was burning the garden clippings that had mounted up for five months. I would have tried to dispose of them myself, but we had weeks and weeks of drought when burning was prohibited. Kate and David always work well together, and they actively fed the fire for over three hours.

The very next day they trimmed the Wicked Wisteria, starting a new burn pile. The garden really looks good right now, thanks to them.

For fun, we ate lunch on the side of a mountain where the views are awesome. It’s easy to catch people being still while eating, so I have lots of photos taken at mealtime.

Tiny Family Reunion

Nathaniel drove from Charlotte to see us on the only day he had off while Kate was here. David joined us after he finished work for the day. It had been over a year since Kate had seen her sons together. It was so much fun to eat at the same table.

Later Nathaniel balanced bags of candy on his head. We we laughing, but he was holding still. The bags didn’t move until Nate took them off.

They posed for a more formal portrait.

Kate is Here!




Daughter Kate and I chatted from time to time as she drove from New Jersey to North Carolina. She made it in record time –12.5 hours! The first morning here, we walked to the stop sign. I hadn’t been there for over a month because I didn’t want the sun on the surgical sites on my face. It was very foggy, so perhaps I didn’t need the protecting hat.

“Good to see you back!”

While I was walking, a car slowed down, and a white-haired woman said, “It’s so good to see you back!”

I knew exactly what she meant. When an old person disappears for a while, others wonder what happened. Did she break her hip? Is she in the hospital? Is she dead??

This lovely lady phrased it exactly right, with a positive spin. I quickly explained that I’d had surgery on my face and could not be in the sun for a while. She had wondered where I was and was glad I was walking again. In our understated way, we were celebrating the resumption of a normal life after a medical pause.

Lets Call Him Joe

A friend of the family, who would be embarrassed by my writing about him, spent much of a day mending things in my house. He moved at an amazing speed and juggled things with alacrity. He was on a ladder, spackling edges of my bathroom ceiling, and he was on his knees checking a leak in the laundry room toilet. Knowing there had been gushes of water from the roof at the back of the house, Joe lugged a huge ladder there and cleaned out one small section of the gutter that was clogged. I hadn’t thought about raising a garage door if the electricity was off. He reattached a rope so that I could reach it. Pulling it will let me raise the door manually. One of the biggest jobs was installing some steps into the crawl space under the house. He had brought the steps the last time he came, and this time he finished the job. It is amazing.

When it was time for lunch, Joe offered me one of the hamburger patties he had brought, along with rice. At first I said I couldn’t let him serve me lunch, but that was ungracious. Thinking aloud, I asked if a lettuce salad would round out the meal. What a delightful time it was, to eat and chat while remembering old times! He had a special rapport with my dad, and we laughed about a time he found a tree growing in dirt inside his truck.

Although I had done very little, I was tired at the end of the day. Joe was still going strong. What a blessing you have been, Joe!

Summer Days

Summer is flying by, which is fine with me. With its normal heat and humidity, it is my least favorite season. The days after daughter Lise went home were filled with walking and gardening. The shrubs at the front of the house were given a haircut, and the ground cover beside the garage was cut back. I finished the eight sides of the evergreen growth at the back and cleared out a periwinkle bed choked with weeds. I have one more bed to go. My goal is to have everything under control before daughter Kate comes for a week. Having complained about summer heat, I must say that it hasn’t been bad the past few weeks. Right now the nights are cool, and sunrise is held in check by thick fog. I can walk half a mile and get home before the sun shines on the weedy places. I have breakfast after gardening, usually before noon.

As I was walking, I told myself to keep my eyes sharp. Joyce is no longer here to point out wild turkeys near the woods and inch worms hanging in my path. With that, I spotted two deer near the blueberry bushes. I immediately stopped still and stared at them. They stared back for what seemed like a long time. As soon as my hand inched toward the phone, they flicked up their white tails and ran up the steep hill into the woods. A photo might last longer, but my memory is still bringing them into focus.

The sun was shining in full force as I ate breakfast on the porch. After making a quick cup of coffee, I went back outside to see buckets of rain pouring down. That evidently stopped the farmer neighbor and his helper from tapping all the fence posts that divide our property. A short while later, they were back. It’s always a good thing when his cows and horses can’t escape their pasture.

School starts in four days, marking the end of summer for children in this county. I can’t claim autumn yet, but that’s where my thoughts are.

Aware of Danger

The photo shows the most dangerous spot in my garden after I cleared it. I warned myself to be alert, because the ground is terribly uneven. It was also covered by overgrown evergreens and big weeds that hid two electric wires. The shot was taken above and to one side of the waterfall.

I began at the pathway, using a step stool for stability while climbing over the low stone wall. My feet are not particularly big, but they felt enormous in that setting. I shuffled and tested my balance before pulling up the greenery to cut it with hand clippers, keeping the wires in sight.

Soon the red basket was full, but I wasn’t going to empty it. Instead, I threw the cuttings behind me, not caring where they landed. It was much easier to pick up the debris on level ground after the trimming was done. I laughed when I came back to the pathway and saw that I’d made a good semi-circle of cuttings. The burn pile is once again tall with highly combustible cuttings.

Back to Normal

I didn’t do any yard work while Lise was here, and everything vied for my attention when she went home. Most of the plants were out of bounds and feeling their freedom, but not for long. I gave the shrubs along the front pathway a haircut. I also trimmed the ground cover beside and behind the garage. I’ve cut back evergreens near the pathway, finishing four out of six sides. The trick is to attack early before the sun reaches those spots.

Two days after Lise left, I had a rather wild day. The bus was late, late enough that I called the company to see if it was coming. It showed up just as I called. The driver was given the wrong address in a neighboring town. Luckily, I was able to tell him to get out of the hospital area, go down another street, cross the railroad tracks and turn right. By this time I was slightly late for the appointment. Just after I checked in, my name was called. The injection in the eye was routine, but I stumbled when getting out of the chair and almost fell on the floor. David offered to pick me up after he finished work. He had the wrong address, too, and I knew how to direct him. We went to a restaurant in the next town, stopped at the local apple orchard for our favorite fruit, ate dessert in Waynesville, and shopped for groceries. Since I had left my house without a car, David took me home. We drifted through the evening, chatting, teasing, eating, and resting. He was home before 2:00 am, and I was sleeping as my head hit the pillow. It had been a very full day.

The excitement for the following day was driving my new used car by myself for the first time. It was a humdrum excursion, taking garbage to the convenience center just down the road. I was very happy nothing leaked in the still-clean car. The sky didn’t leak, either, but it rained most of the day after I got home.