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Monday, August 14, 2017

Yesterday, in a garden

Yesterday exceeded perfect. I went to see my friend Deb and take her up on her offer of new potatoes, kale, garlic.

I’ve never been to Deb’s house. I knew she had it, and she and potter husband Steve had gutted and renovated the almost 200 year old house. It’s nearing completion and when I pulled into the farm yard on the perfect day, Steve swung down through scaffolding from the old metal roof he is repairing.

Steve pointed out some barns and gave me history, as I stood planted in one spot, adhered to my cane. The fine, beautiful weather had kicked in my allergies and plugged my ears long since, and I felt like I was floating through images of my surroundings.



Deb led me to the garden. “Be careful, uneven. A hole in the ground. A little downhill here. You want to wait while I go harvest?” as she opened the gate and took down the top of the Dutch door style deer detractor.



Delightful, like a mother hen, one of whom laid an egg and was announcing it to the world. “And the raccoons and fox!” Deb said. I followed her in, and we chatted while she turned up taters and snapped kale leaves. Just a perfect sort of day.



“I’m  looking everywhere I go; I’m lookin’ for a home in the heart of the country. I’m gonna move; I’m gonna go, I’m gonna tell everyone I know, lookin’ for a home in the heart of the country.”

Then she led me through the house. My god, ten inch plank floors, refinished. “This used to be here; we moved that from there. We found the old church window that had been incorporated in the house.”



My favorite: Deb said there were no footers in the original house, including the two story bit that began as one. Some of the second floor was grounded on the old ceramic crock that was the chimney. The stairs were built on a stack of field stone, and held a hundred or more years of children thundering up and down their steepness. “The stone was dust,” she said. A contractor told her the house was held together by tradition.

We drank iced coffee in the sun room, petted the dog and talked about bits of things. I only remember looking up Gallipolis. How long will anyone remember old horror and atrocity?



When Laura came home, she found the produce, draining on the counter. This morning I find she has rearranged it.



Charlottesville has not dispersed. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, a Trump supporter, said of Trump’s non-response, (an air ball to the Third Reich, said Jon Oliver) “I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists.”


School starts soon. I sat Laura down and discussed the attitudes she might encounter soon, in her radical right school district. “I know, Gramma. Don’t worry. I can handle them.”


22 comments:

  1. What a lovely day you had....sunshine, old houses, and gardens. Perfect. Too bad you had to finish your day with the natiness that is infiltrating your country.

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  2. nothing better than spending a day in the garden. I had quite a few alienesque potatoes myself. cute how Laura organized the potatoes.

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  3. Hari OM
    the news is on as I type and have only just heard about the prez's lame and scripted response to the horror. @#$%#&*^&%%^@@@... is my response to him. sigh...

    You had a day of great company, beautiful surroundings and delicious take-home. I expect the cook will have fun with that lot. YAM xx

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  4. That is bliss under an old roof. Fuck the Supremacists. I am thinking about starting a fan-club for the Supremes, called the 'Supremacists'.

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  5. Tough times to be raising teens. Or not. We certainly aren't lacking in real-life lessons in morality and decency.
    Thanks for your previous post, too. Beautifully summed up.

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  6. That house and that produce? Absolute bliss.
    The insanity of the world? Hiss and spit.

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  7. What a work of art this house has become!! Oh, those potatoes.

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  8. Gorgeous old house and new potatoes!

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  9. The old farm sounds wonderful.

    The news, terrible! Great to discuss school with Laura.

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  10. I'm glad you had such a lovely day. The house is beautiful. The produce is beautiful. I like Laura's organizational skills and her attitude about school. My son and I love John Oliver.

    Love,
    Janie

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  12. Sounds like a wonderful day for you visiting your friend Deb on a beautiful day. I'm in love with the stained glass window in your friend's renovated home. Just beautiful.

    That Laura is an amazing girl. I love how she's rearranged and organized the potatoes and how she feels confident in dealing with the racists and bullies at the school.

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  13. Love that window. Your potato photo reminds me I need to get digging.

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  14. Besides being so adult and such a good cook Laura has a good head on her shoulders. She will go as far in life as she wants to go.

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  15. Wondering what wonderful meals were collected from the produce of the garden!

    betty

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  16. A potato puppy! That's very cute. I'm a bit like Laura I suppose, I would have sorted the potatoes too.
    I have every confidence Laura will handle school just fine. She's a strong young woman who has had and still has, a great teacher.

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  17. A lovely visit! Deb and Steve's house is beautiful as I would expect from the home of two artists. I'm imagining Thanksgiving in that beautiful dining room....Laura is such a grounded and strong person. I'm not surprised you are so proud of her!

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  18. What a wonderful post and love the healthy looking potatoes. Every blog I read is reassuring me that we out number the alt-right extremist. The radical groups may have helped vote Trump with a folks who believe they were going to have their jobs saved i.e. mining and manufacturing industry. It's so sad to see false promises to lure these folks into voting the way they did. It would have been better to offer these folks education funds or training for other job skills. America needs badly trains in between cities like Europeans have for travel. Politicians talk about infrastructure but none so far has taken the leap.

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  19. P.S. that window is gorgeous, but what I really like is that wall colour. I'd love that in my living room. Think I'll go and get some paint charts, see if I can match it.

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  20. A lovely day, full of good things. And you recognized that - good for you.

    I would have sorted the vegs too. Rather compulsively.

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  21. Amazing work those friends of yours are doing on that old house, and I love the colors and shapes of those new potatoes. I am glad that Laura is confident of her ability to deal with the meanness (born of fear) that is in people's hearts.

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