Help is Only and Ice Cream Cone Away

Here I am again to say thank you for your understanding comments about yesterday's post of frustration. I have made so many changes in the way I do things. I know, as I age, I will have to stop some things.This is where the kids would say "Duh"  I mean I wasn't born yesterday. All I have to do is look in the mirror.I just want to continue doing this thing called "gardening" as long as I can pick up a trowel and drag that green chair around..

 I have always been a hard worker. In my first marriage, my hard work pulled us out of difficulty many times.When I was a stay at home mom, I worked at home....keeping the house, cooking meals from scratch, canning and freezing, doing the yard work, childcare,and then painting for shops in  my "spare" time. I did this to provide the extras that we wouldn't have been able to afford. Saying all of this, I hope you don't think that I had a husband who didn't help. .he worked long, long hours at a very stressful job and I wanted him to be able to take it easy when he came home.I worked hard so we could do things as a family when he was off work.

This is the way I lived for many years. I never ran from a job...actually I ran toward it. I loved to be able to figure things out for myself. Do jobs that were beyond what a woman would normally do, without really thinking about it.. When I moved into my neighborhood, one of my neighbors came over and said, "You're making us women look bad" These ladies had never stepped outside to work in the garden. Our little neighborhood was one without any flowers. The yards were kept nice and there were evergreens, but not flower gardens. This passion of mine led to other women trying gardening, joining a garden club, getting rid of some grass and planting flower beds.We all became friends and started exchanging garden tips instead of recipes.This went on for years and I have many happy memories about those days. Many of their triumphs came as pass-a-long flowers for my yard here in Byron.
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My husband passed away and then I found Joe. He and I are in the same boat now .He's always been a hard worker too and has had a beautiful yard and vegetable garden. A jack of all trades he can fix anything and does beautiful wood working. Right now he's laid up with a hurting back and can't help with physical yard work for a while.. We have hired someone to take care of the mowing, fertilizing, trimming of the lawn and the snow plowing this winter. I could ask this helper to do my fall cleanup, but I want to do what I can myself. It gives me such satisfaction to see my gardens growing and know that I did this. Now that I'm older  things aren't  as easy as before. I can't work all day in the yard and just come in and put a heating pad on hurts. Now, it takes it's toll on my body and I am hurting for several days, if I overdo. I have cut down my work by at least 75%, but I'll be darned if I'll give up that 25% without a struggle.So, this morning it's back to work for me...I'll be out there doing what I can and just gritting my teeth when the confounded thing (you know what I mean) dies on me. The batteries are charged and I know I will be able to finish the job.

Now on to something more entertaining. I was sitting back by the woods last night, when I heard a little voice calling my name. I looked up toward the house and saw Audra waving at me. I had just made the long walk back there...and didn't want to go up to the house so soon, so I told her to come see me.

She and her BFF, Bella came racing to me...one on a bike and the other on her scooter. They are both so full of energy. "Do you have any jobs for us?" was the question they asked. I told them that by the time they got out of school, I was done for the day and tired. Maybe I would have a job for them on the weekend. They remind me of myself in so many ways. Always visiting the old people in our neighborhood and wanting to help. I think that kids love helping older people, because we have more time. Time to listen to them and just let them talk and tell us about their ideas and feelings. Moms and Dads are so busy now days working and taking kids to various events...they say "It takes a village" you know.Well, anyway...we visited and did some bird watching and a little nature talking. We "raced" to the house....me walking and them riding. Guess who won? We went in and Joe mentioned that we had to take the trash cans out to the street. They both piped up and said that they would do it. So, he and the girls went out to the garage and took the trash out. I was busy dipping chocolate ice cream cones for all of us. While they were eating, I asked if they had eaten dinner. They both said "no" So I told them to tell their Moms that they had eaten dessert first.

Then they asked permission to play the organ and we had a short concert until they had to go home. They really cheered me up and let me know that help is only an ice cream cone away.
Balisha