Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Life assortment


We picked up some more plants for the garden last Saturday. I think in another year this garden will be packed full and look like an old lady’s garden. No rhyme nor reason, no plan, no symmetry. One picture has the water lily in it, and if I ever meet a fellow tall enough to stand on a ladder and pound the stake further into the ground, it will not be so ungainly tall.



A knock on the door early this week. On the screen door, actually. This global warming thing is more than serious. It is August. It is the end of August. Kids are going back to school. It should be hot, hot, hot in Northeastern Ohio. But, it hasn’t been eighty in a week or two, and when I wake up in the morning, the house is down to the mid fifties. I open the front door wide and let the sunshine in.



So, a knock on the screen door. I went around the corner to see who, and it was a man in khakis and a shirt with the logo of the big owner of trailer parks from New Jersey to Ohio. I stepped out, he introduced himself and I did the same. He blended his first name into his last and I really didn’t get it. He started out saying, “I understand you recently sent a letter to corporate in New Jersey.”



Poor fellow, pushed a bad button. I’ve never sent a letter to the owners of this park. So, I told him what I have done. “I located the bureau responsible for the condition of parks that people live in, and got some drains installed.” I showed him phone pictures of the inches deep lakes between the last units on this road. I told him there was a current brouhaha over grass length, but certainly reasonable adults could compromise on that. I told him I’d put several hundred dollars into landscaping after the drains, as management here ignored the torrential storm that washed all the soil, grass seed and straw away.

Mr. Polo Shirt looked quite ready to get off my porch, and I asked his name again, as we shook hands. “Bob, said he.” “Oh, The Bob,” replied I. “I suppose.” He left. I told my neighbor later, and her immediate reaction was “I cannot believe he led off intimidating you by saying you sent a letter to corporate.” I thought for a minute. I guess that is a kind of intimidation. I’m seventy four, and still waiting.

Laura is through all the classroom instruction and taking behind-the-wheel. She is not a relaxed driver yet, but she’s quite collected. She has eight sessions in the contract, and, what with school and band and damn football and other students, scheduling has been a pain. The previous week night classes were five to seven; last night’s was seven to nine.  Some night driving. I dropped her at the school and was barely home before a text. Could the instructor drop her at home instead of the school.

Why? Where does he live? What time? What is his name?, I shot back. He lives five minutes from here and can go home. And all the rest. I consented; I’d hate to be working at nine myself. At the appointed hour the car arrived, but Laura did not get out. I went out. “We’re finishing the paperwork, Gramma. I’ll be right in.”

I stood back and waited. The instructor never knew I wondered if I’d done the right thing.



25 comments:

  1. There do seem to be a lot of people troubling you at the moment Joanne - I do hope it all soon settles down.

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  2. Thanks, Pat. Not troubling, more like gnats in the great scheme of life.

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  3. There's always something! It is good you are not easily intimidated, Joanne.

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  4. Someone intimidating you? I don't think so, not even someone from New Jersey.

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    1. In NJ I was behind a car that was T-boned. A guy got out of each car, swearing and swinging. I worked my way gone in a heartbeat. Even though I was the witness, I could easily have been intimidated, had I stuck around. I guess life is about picking.

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  5. It's a cottage garden, and quite lovely. And like others, I hope things in your life calm down....

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  6. I'm afrarid my response would have been NO...but I'm a nervous Nellie anyway. Glad she got home safe and sound.

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  7. You had done the right thing Joanne.

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  8. It would take a hell of a lot more than The Bob to intimidate me. I was finished with intimidation when I got divorced. They should reimburse you for what you spent that was ruined by the water. Good that you questioned Laura about the instructor and went out to meet them. He knows you're watching.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. That's when I dispensed with it as a viable option, too. Forty years ago.

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  9. Old lady gardens are the best and yours is looking good.

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  10. Hari OM
    Yeah - pick yer fights... If Laura was unhappy I think you'd know; hard these days to not be suss, but we have to allow for innocence or lose ourselves altogether. YAM xx

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  11. I rather hope that The Bob was a bit intimidated by YOU - your information and ability to back up your story with pictures ...

    There is too much that happens these days not to worry. That being said, I'm thinking Laura would put up a he** of a fight, being her Grandma's g-daughter.

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    1. My gardens have always bordered on chaos, or English garden. It is hard here in a desert.

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  12. I'm surprised he didn't have a riding crop and monocle. Men seem to have bought into that old tale of helpless old (sorry about that) women. If it weren't so aggravating it would be funny.

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  13. I used to trust my instinct and most people. I still trust my instinct but the news I read tells me that all people aren't what they seem. I understand your concern.

    I have a feeling that you intimidated Bob from Jersey more than he did you.

    The garden looks great.

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  14. I'd be the same about the instructor and would have handled it the same way, but it did safe you one trip and it did seem like Laura got home safely. How many other kids are in the car with her, if there are any other kids? I know I had four total when I did driver's trainer years ago in high school. We each got to drive roughly 15 minutes 2-3 times a week for 6 weeks.

    betty

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  15. A very wise Grandma to be keeping tabs on the instructor as well as on Laura.

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  16. I love your plants. Gardening can be addictive. I'm trying to convince my neighbour of that. She only sees it as a chore at the moment.

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  17. I think the best gardens are overrun with a little of this and a little of that. English gardens come to mind, but adding a few things each season seems like a good idea.

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  18. So much going on, and all of it written in such an interesting way. I wonder what those big shots are up to?

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  19. The garden is looking great. You are a firecracker, Bob was wise to take leave of your porch. It is not the world you and I grew up in so I think it was wise to talk to her instructor.

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