for the love of it all

my yard, inspired by many things, mainly my grandma, who loved her garden. proud of her flowers whenever we came to visit she gave us a tour every time. i have some of her iris in my yard. i remember gathering seeds from her 4 o'clock plants and scattering them.

our yard has been a multi year project. last year i ripped out, all by myself i might add, bushes that had been along the front of the house for about 15 or 16 years. we planted them when steph was just a baby....come to think of it they may have been there longer since she will be turning 19 next month.

our yard has been a lot of trial and error. i love the layered look not only in our indoor living space, but outdoors as well. we are getting close to accomplishing just that. life would be easier, and less painful if we were the typical 2 tree 3 bush kind of people that our neighbors were, but then where is the fun in that? being normal is not all that it is hyped up to be i find as i make my way through this journey in life.

this photo was taken from the front door. to take a photo from the yard, or driveway would require i conquer 2 steps. something my body is not willing to do.

this morning i awoke feeling achey, i expected, and prepared for this by taking aspirin last night before bed. i had spent the past few days bent over pulling weeds, digging up plants and replanting them in other areas, helping the hubby lay down the sheets of stuff to keep weeds from growing, can't remember the name of the stuff..i know it will come to me at 3 in the morning.

so for me all of this yard work presents itself as quite the challenge since i can lose my balance just standing still, let alone bending over and standing up repeatedly.

to keep myself from falling flat on my face i found that i was tightening up my thigh muscles as i imagine a sumo wrestler would to plant himself firmly in position. i knew if i took a face plant the hubby would send me to the porch to sit and watch, or as we call it supervise. i have prided myself on the fact that i have done almost all of the planting and replanting of things that are green in our yard. it drives me nuts that i have to ask for help.

this morning as i climbed out of bed i had the gate of a cowboy who had been riding for days. i thought to myself i must look like john wayne walking down the dirt thoroughfare on his way to a standoff with the bad guy. yeah that makes me feel all girlie and feminine i laughed to myself. the kids found it humorous. i did too until i tried to bend over to pick something up off the floor. there are places i hurt that i did not know existed. the back of my thighs and my butt hurt beyond words. they screamed in pain as i tried to sit down, they screamed louder as i tried to stand up.

i did keep my promise to myself and the kids though, and we walked about a bit over a mile today, not as far as we normally walk but with screaming thigh and butt muscles i felt every step, and i found my balance was severely out of whack today, correcting my lopsided stride with the aid of my walking stick was even uncomfortable, afterward it was back to working on the yard.

in a few days the aches will be gone and the yard will be one step closer to our goal and will look beautiful.

the sooner we finish the sooner the kids and i get to start back on our hour and half long hikes up and down hills that feel like mountains that will have me once again walking with john wayne's swagger in the morning and taking aspirin before bed.

so for the love of it all, even the pain and discomfort, i keep going.