Sky, Mood and No Boat

The Garden Witch woke up before 4 o'clock in the morning. This was the best part of the day. Peace and quiet. She made coffee, took the dog for a short walk around the house. By 6:30 when it was time to wake up the kids, e-mails were checked and answered, several blog posts read, school pants ironed, lunch bags packed and breakfast prepared. After 7:20 when everyone else left, important calls were made, the house was picked up, dishwasher unloaded and laundry started. It was time to go clean the garden. For several hours, she pulled and dug, weeded and dumped, moved and raked. Something felt wrong. She sat on the bench. Tired and irritated. The grey sky didn't help. It pressed down, bore heavily and compressed the air around her to a minimum, just enough to breathe, crushed the space, flattened the atmospfere, forced down, jamming her brains, mashing, squashing, squeezing and squishing them.

She looked at her hands. When was the last time she had a manicure? Ma-ni-cu-re... Sounds almost like ma-nu-re... She touched her hair. What was the name of her hairdresser?... She looked at her clothes. Dirty gloves, garden clogs, sweatshirt and sweatpants with dog hair and dry leaves stuck to them. There was no need to employ a scarecrow.

Forgive me, my garden! She jumped up off the bench, threw the gloves on the ground and almost ran to the house. Let's go somewhere one day, anywhere, she almost begged No- Matter -What-Always-Happy One . There was no need to beg. Let's go right now, he said! Shower - fast! Nice clothes -on, make up - on, quick look at the mirror - o-la-la, mama! They jumped into the car and off they went!

Driving on an almost empty road trimmed by golden dry leaves makes her feel better.

It was foggy at the beginning.

The road wound along the water. Water made all the difference. The day can not be bad for her if she sees water.

Soon, the fog disappeared.

She liked to look at the houses with their views of the water...

Do people realize how lucky they are to live where they live and see what they see?

This house above was for sale for $750,000. It has a little guest house on the back.
Why don't I reach for my wallet, get the money and move in to this miniature castle right now, she thought?

Nah... Maybe it's good that they didn't live on the water. She wouldn't be able to garden then. She would just sit and watch the water. And the sky. And the waves. And the ducks. And the boats. And the seals' heads poking here and there out of the water.


They made several stops.

They had lunch, and these were the views from the restaurant window.

Without even looking at No-Matter-What-Always-Happy One's face, she knew what he was thinking about. A boat... A little white boat... No, there is no space for a boat in the garage. Where then will she keep her shovels, rakes, garden forks and the old wooden chest to put her plants in the winter?

Forget about boats. The food was good.

She had a huckleberry salad, fresh Puget Sound mussels and a huckleberry dessert. Delicious! He had Caesar salad and salmon. Of course. Ah, so predictable! She was glad he wasn't a gardener. Then, there would be the same flowers in the garden as those he'd planted the very first year. Daisy, daisy, daisy.... Or roses, roses, roses... No there wouldn't be any roses. Roses are tough. They need to be pruned and sprayed. Vinca. Yes, vinca minor. He would plant vinca. It's easy, spreads itself and blooms with gorgeous blue flowers. Yes, it's good that he is not a gardener. He is a good helper, yes. He is such a good helper, he deserves to have a boat. But then, who will help her while he is boating? No, no boat. It's time to drive back !

They drove back home.


Several stops were made to see farms, leaves, berries and more water.

She came back to her garden. It survived, didn't it?

Well, it worked well. The sky was clear, shovels and rakes were happily ruling in the garage, and no boat was on the horizon. Life is good! .... At least til the next big cloud blocks the sun for a week...

Copyright 2009 TatyanaS