Thursday, May 30, 2013

Cooling off


I may be the only one surprised that a twenty by fifty foot garden overrun by twenty five years of crabgrass roots hasn't been sorted in just a couple of weeks.  I like “sorted”, an abbreviation for a sweeping fix, and just not used over here.  Three grandchildren, a grandma and assorted willing hands have reached the last stage, no matter what happens.

The grandchildren are in school all day, we have been delayed by one day of heavy rain, and yesterday it went beastly hot on us, which didn't stop us from capitalizing on all the work the kids did with their father on Memorial Day.  This morning I worked for two hours, before the temperature reached ninety.


I cleared weeds between the old pavers and disposed of the next to last section of turned over weeds.  Tomorrow I’ll clear the turned over weeds behind the lettuce tower plus the last few sections of paver weeds.



Now I am cooling off from being mighty hot.  The mud on the bottom of my sneakers is drying; I've watered Linda’s box of lily of the valley one more time in hope of planting them soon; and all in all it’s looking as if my cheerful crew can come mighty close to the end of this project over the weekend forecasted to be much cooler.


These three children own this project.  They have mentally engineered extending the paver path with the excavated stones.  They want to commence replacing some of the garden art now, but the big boss (me) is holding off.  The girls worry the birds won’t find enough food without the feeder the raccoon raided.  I say let the raccoon be good and gone.  Not to mention, it will be fun to make a sweeping arc of garden art, starting with my original acquisition, a  street lamp from Louisville, Kentuncy.


I’m cooling off from something else.  Senior Pictures.  Hamilton will be a senior next year, and gave me the brochure from the official school photographer yesterday.  Yesterday!  He won’t be in twelfth grade until September.  Moving on, what’s going on here?  These aren’t senior pictures.  They’re more like teen age fantasies.  “I don’t have to get on with being an adult because I’m stuck in the Sesame Street present where I am the most important person in the world.”




I called the company to get more information.  Of course I was able only to leave a message.  No return call yet, four working hours later.  My old cynical self knows the company is comprised of youngsters pandering to, fostering these high school senior's illusions (and their parents).

I went on line and checked their web site to find if they offer head and shoulder shots in grandma approved clothing.  This grandma, by the way, is no prude, and has not banned anything she has yet seen go to school, except one ragged shirt of Hamilton’s’ and that awful, raggedy red hoodie of Emily’s. No, they do not show  examples of what I will send Hamilton wearing.

Then I did an internet search for actual pictures published in year books as the official “senior picture.”  I found this high school in Illinois has pictures on line.  The most recent year available is 2008.  Take a peek.  Just like the pictures in the brochure.

It’s a new world, grandma.  So, I’m cooling off.  I can tell you that’s not how my grandchildren will present themselves in their senior pictures.



27 comments:

  1. Maybe you can get a committee of parents/guardians together and petition for a proper set of senior pictures instead of a 'life and times' edition.
    By the way, and I'm sure you know this, Lilly of the Valley is poisonous from it's tiny creeping little roots to it's lovely bell like flowers and everything in between.

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    1. Yes, I remember that, now. Have to eat a lot of them, thought. I wonder if raccoons fancy them.

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  2. Maybe you can submit photos taken by a photographer who remembers how to take tasteful photos instead of fantasy shots! Why can't YOU submit the shot?

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  3. Erm, not sure if that brochure is prom pics or a dating agency spread!
    I'll send one of the bears over..that should get rid of the raccoon.
    Jane x

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  4. Umm . . . was that a yearbook or the newest issue of People Magazine?!

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  5. The pavers and garden look wonderful Jo. The pics are a bit much. CC's were very tastefully done {she graduated four years ago}. They required the head shot with velvet drape for girls. We also took her to the beach and had some shots done there in jeans and long sleeve white shirt I might add.

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  6. I loved those High School pictures. Thar's drugs unner them pavers - don't you forget it!

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    1. Last time I thought you located the weed in the vegetation. Is this the hard stuff, then.

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  7. The garden is looking good, 90f that does sound warm, about 30c, we are about half that here.
    Merle......

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  8. I'm sure you don't have to use the one photographer. Choose a local photographer. The yearbook advisor at the school can tell you the requirement for the yearbook photo. Most schools have a handout with the requirements like size of the photo and the content of the picture. My son left his to the last minute and had them taken at 60 Minute Photo. They seniors take the pictures in the summer because they are due to the yearbook early in the school year. In our school the senior pages were in color and were due at the printers in September.

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  9. We got the heat yesterday and it is heart attack weather. However, like you, I plod on, because I have to prove that I can do it. I am almost done with the 9 yds. of mulch and would like to borrow your grandchildren for the rest of the work.

    Your property looks wonderful. You did a great job.

    I don't know what to say about the yearbook. It just seems wrong. Your grandchildren are very fortunate people to have such a caring guardian.

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  10. YOur garden looks brilliant. The yearbook? Not so much. Good luck.

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  11. When my kids had their senior pictures done,. I insisted that they have at least one traditional one done and for the rest, they chose photos that featured their sports and other activities.

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  12. Congratulations on all the effort in the garden ! That's a school book ?!

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  13. Nice garden after the weeds were pulled. As for senior pictures, let them reflect the times they were taken. I can't see today's teens dressed in black and pearls as we were. Lol.

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  14. My three boys went to two different (Catholic) high schools-both male-only. For Senior yearbook photos The Oldest's school took the students around campus and posed them against trees and stone walls, Very nice looking. They were required to wear coat and tie.

    The second school took pictures in the studio. (In the summer. It was nice to get it over before the school year started.). The boys were required to have some shots for yearbook purposes wearing a dress shirt and tie, then they could have others done. I think my boys only brought polo shirts. We ended up choosing to buy those.

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  15. What a great legacy for those grandkids to learn the joys of gardening. I agree that the senior picture poses are juvenile and not appropriate to the occasion. Graduation is about being launched into adulthood, so why would you want your picture to look like a teenage rockstar? It is not about clinging to your past but moving into your future.

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  16. I'm very impressed by all the work you and your crew have done in the garden. Nice Work! As for the "People Magazine" senior photos--I'm with you. Those photographers are leaching off the adolescent lack of maturity and parental wussyness. Hang in there!

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  17. The traditional style senior photos will never embarrass the graduating senior when he/she is 45 yrs. old. The new style may cause them to cringe.

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  18. Wow, I can't believe those are photos for the seniors. I don't think we've got to that stage here yet but I could be wrong. I hope I'm not.

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  19. so glad my daughter is not a part of todays' photo parade of Hollywood Illustrated...is there such a thing? She was photographed with the pearls-1991 and the picture is as good today as back then. Stick to your Grandma guns....

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  20. Here we still have traditional pictures with grad gowns on, which makes it unnecessary to argue over clothing. That being said, if the standards are different in the school as a whole, it may not be the hill you want to die on to make the kids stick out like sore thumbs among their peers. I saw some photos from that school (the individual ones) in which the young ladies and young men - while not formally attired - were conservatively dressed. Maybe that's "good enough"?

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  21. So glad to see the lettuce tower is looking good. Our mini version is coming on. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Hooray. Our lettuce has featured in two salads for six people to date, so it's producing. Hope Harry is a big fan of salad!

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  22. About those chives... I had a friend serve a salad that had those chive flowers on top. It really made it pretty. I hope all that bad weather I heard about last night avoids you guys.

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  23. Those pair of rubber shoes really did their work too and I like the various flowers in the photo! Very pleasant to the eyes!

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