Summer Garden

One thing about being gone from here for any length of time in the summer:  you are bound to come back to a garden that has gone ballistic.  Kuzzin Kris’s TLC in the watering department kept Nyel’s vegetable patch good and healthy and kept the hanging baskets of fuchsias on the porch looking gorgeous.  Everything else – rampantly out of control.  Eighteen days gone easily translates into weeding penance for the rest of the summer.

Flowers on the Rampage

Apparently, the Oysterville weather included intermittent spells of rain so everything on the don’t-worry-about-it list we gave Kris survived and then some! The Dorothy Perkins roses on our fence have never been more lush.  The dahlias are their height of bloom.  Ditto the hydrangeas and tiger lilies and daisies.  And, of course, the weeds!

I console myself the the digging, pulling, hauling, sawing duties ahead of me will go a long way toward making up for all that good food and the miles of passive car-sitting that our trip entailed.  I have successfully avoided stepping onto the scales – but I know from the fit of my clothes that inches and pounds enjoyed attaching themselves as the miles sped by.

Hydrangeas of Every Color

But, first things first, as they say.  There are inside duties that are perhaps more pressing – like bills to pay, church events waiting to be scheduled, emails to answer, phone messages to triage and laundry to deal with.  To say nothing of returning those books on tape to the library and replenishing the larder with a few trips to Jack’s Country Store.  I can’t remember that being away for a few weeks used to be so difficult – the coming home part, I mean.

And then there’s that earworm from “Fiddler on the Roof” …and this trouble in the town.  You’re upset, you’re worn out, Go inside, Go lie down…”

Perhaps it’s time to plan another road trip!