And Then A Miracle Occurred

My mother has the proverbial "green thumb."

When I was in junior high, my folks bought a home on ten acres of land. Over the course of many years, my mother (and father) transformed part of it into a 1+ acre garden. That is a LOT of garden.

I didn't realize it at the time, but my mom's diligent gardening brought in tons and tons of produce, and helped us eat during a time when our overall family income wasn't high (and they had 3 hungry kids to feed.)

Somehow I missed the green thumb.  I've never liked gardening at all. I don't like bugs, I don't like dirt, and I don't like heat, and sweat, and bees buzzing around my head.

  Kevin IS a gardener.  But with a full time job and 9 kids and a wife and a host of other outside tasks, he has focused his gardening on the vegetable garden.

  Which left our front flower beds (usually) a wasteland.  It is really hard to convey how BAD they were.  They were full of tall grass and weeds.  There were (and are) a few flowers, but weeding wasn't happening and the flowers were often crowded out.

  Why didn't I do something about this sad state of affairs?

  I didn't prioritize it. Simple answer.  Another, more complicated answer, is that last summer I was having a baby.  And 3 summers ago I was having a baby.  And until recently, I couldn't easily go outside to work on the garden because the kids didn't do all that well by themselves inside. (All of that is a distant memory as our big girls can hold the fort by themselves now.)

  But in the last couple of weeks I decided...to weed the front flower beds.

  It really didn't even take THAT long.

  So (flourish of trumpets), here is the main flower bed.

  Yep, it looks more or less ghastly.  At least we can see my ornamental birds. They used to be surrounded in a thicket of grass.

Think of it as a blank piece of paper, on which an (inexpert) artist might eventually create...something. Not a masterpiece, but something.

But here, here, HERE is my tour de force, my piece de resistance, my treasure, my source of pride!

Admit it.  That looks...Ok.  That looks sort of nice.   I am very proud of it.  And for me, this is a miracle.