Gardening at Last

I wanted to do some gardening here yesterday after my run, but it was cold and gray. I ran over to Ayrmount, the historic house and plantation with trails, which is beautiful any time of the year. I had hoped to tackle the perennials here that need pruning and clean up. When I read that the rest of the week would be warmer and maybe even rainy, I decided to hold off. This morning it was warmer so I got to them after my row. I cut back all the stalks from things like mums, verbena, coneflowers, etc. I also planted the pansies into the window boxes at the front of the house. It felt good to get my hands in the dirt and clean up all the old dead stalks that we can see from the bedroom windows. Much neater looking now. It would have been nice to end my treatment in time to have planted some bulbs for next spring, but it wasn't on my time. Next year. We'll just have to look out at the tree blossoms when spring comes next year.

This w-e I'll start cleaning up the Asheville garden. It's much bigger and tougher to maneuver. For one thing, it's a hillside and the whole time you're pulling old stalks or lopping limbs, you're balancing yourself. You feel it the next day when your calves and legs are sore. My old pal Barbara Newman used to call it full contact gardening after all those w-e athletes who complain of being sore after playing a sport they aren't used to. It's much the same.

I just finished the book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by one of my favorite authors Thomas Friedman. He's an opinion columnist at the NY Times and writes frequently about globalization and the need to make the world greener before we pollute ourselves off the earth. He travels extensively to developing countries and has first hand knowledge of the ways they are ahead of us (education and investment in alternative energy). It's a good book and very thought provoking. I hope the Obama administration reads it and takes the ideas for green energy investment to heart. Gas is sure to go back up to $4 per gallon (and $5 and $6 and...). We should produce more of our own energy or at least get some of our it from countries that don't hate us.
Photo: more from the birthday party, left to right Aunt Dot, me and MaMa