It's Bloomin' time!

People who know me well know that I love, love, love to garden. I love getting my hands in the dirt and digging in it. When I was a teenager, if we got angry with each other, my mother would send my sister Rose and I out to weed the yard and garden side by side. We would start weeding very grumpily and pretty soon we would be singing and laughing together. It's hard to be angry when you are outside.

My mom could make a planter out of anything. We had a ranch down in Modesto and our barn yard had a myriad of planters. An old claw tooth bathtub was home to onions. Old milk cans, old gas cans, they all had flowers in them. We used to tease Mom about it. Rose's boyfriend worked at a plumbing supply house, one day he came to our house with a urinal and a toilet and bet my mom she wouldn't use them. The urinal grew great cherry tomatoes and the toilet had daisies in it!

I love these wonderful memories of the colors and smells of our house. This is part of my back yard. I work hard out here every weekend, watering, weeding, fertilizing, snail baiting...my yard is my pride and joy.

Today as I drove off to work I noticed a new flower had sprouted in my yard, one I had not planted. I have a feeling like all the years past, this will be in my yard until October. Is it a decoration? A weed? A Nuisance? No, they are soccer balls and socks and probably will be a permanent fixture until fall. Usually there's a bike or two included. Aren't they lovely? Low maintenance except for broken windows, broken roof tiles and dents in the garage. You may grow roses and poppies, I grow soccer balls. There is no end to my talent.