A Spot of T

It’s late but if I don’t record this day now, I never will. I think Rick had one of the best Father’s Days he’s ever had. And he worked almost all day!

Actually we went to church this morning first and really enjoyed the service so that started the day off on the right foot. Now, I joke about the fact that if I want to make Rick happy, all I have to do is put on my apron. Its so true!! Then, he knows I’m cooking (or have been cooking) and such a simple thing, even in this day and age, really DOES make my man happy. So, when we got home, I said “would you like this to be an apron day?”. He just laughed… knowing darn well that I knew he did.

Anyway, I made him a delicious lunch served to him on a tray while he sat in front of the TV watching a fishing show. The weather was terrible, cold and cloudy - so our boat plans were out.

For Father’s Day I bought him two trees to replace two other tress that he hates. For years he has been complaining about two huge shrubs that we have on either side of the front deck walkway. They are impossible to shape and in his view ugly - I don’t mind them. But I thought, what the heck, if it makes him happy - so be it.

To make a long story short, he spent the whole day outside puttering around in the yard getting a lot done, including digging up the old trees, replanting them, and planting the new ones. Our sons, Jeff and Bobby, were with him every step of the way, and Rick’s comment at dinner was music to my ears: “What more could I ask for for Father’s Day than having my two sons helping me all day”.

Of course, I was on hand with the camera:

Here they are digging out one of the shrubs with Rick wearing his *Old Guys Rule* 50th Birthday T-Shirt:

and here are the boys carrying it to the back yard to be replanted:

I should have taken a picture of the news tress planted for a true Before & After. Next time.

If you’re still looking for an update on the adorondak chairs, please don’t ask. But I’m not complaining and definatly NOT nagging.

Woops… It’s quite a mess. You may think these pictures look good, but for all the work I’ve done and the many years I’ve been at it [gardening], it’s pretty crappy. Plus, I’m only showing the best. After working like a dog these past two weekends, then examining my progress, I have finally come to the conclusion that maybe gardening just isn’t for me. My only question is, what took me so long to finally come to this realization? Maybe I should just give up and keep it tres simple. Maybe I should blame it on our parents? Neither one of us had a single parent who kept a garden… maybe a few pots, but that was it. It’s not like we had any family knowledge to build upon. I’ve picked strangers brains, bought numerous gardening books, attended local gardening shows, scoured the internet for information, and I still pull out perfectly good perenials, plant flower beds that look like crap and sometimes die, and forget the names of all my plants.

Every spring I get all excited and inspired… I buy too many plants, plant more seeds than I can take care of, and by mid July, I’ve lost interest. Four homes over 23 odd years, and I’m not much further ahead. I had some pretty nice perenial gardens going in at the house we lived in before we moved to ontario… but it took 12 years to get to that point. And hubby had a huge rassberry patch and nice plantings around the brook. Then we moved.

My best gardens were in St. Thomas Ontario. That house and garden area was sweet. What a great climate for gardening. Then we moved again back east to our current home and it’s been down hill ever since.

This is a small part of what I’ve been up to, but don’t get overly excited… Like I said, I picked the best to show:

Oh - and if you’re wondering how we’re making out painting the adorondak chairs - don’t ask.