A World in Bloom While the News is Sad

My sister has a neighbor who owns a flower shop.  He was raised on a dairy farm and knows how things grow.  Wanting a bit more time off from farming, when the shop went up for sale, he bought the place.  His brother is on the farm and working.  The shop is a bit quiet.  There are no funerals and no proms this spring and, yet.

Seeing the world in bloom gives us some hope.  Driving home one afternoon I decided to pass through some neighborhoods where the color was brightest against a mostly clear sky. 

I don’t garden and I don’t landscape.  The one house I owned was big and vertical.  The lot was small.  My lawnmower didn’t even need an engine.  Mowing was at best a 20 minute task.  It’s not to say I wouldn’t mind gardening if I had more time and space.

After my dad had an illness 35 years ago, I went home for 6 months and looked after him.  I worked mostly evenings at a local radio station and a few days a week filled in as a substitute schoolteacher.  His property was large.  After I went off to college he bought a riding mower.  Before that, I mowed and it was a 12 hour chore.  One day, while in the barn, I found a jar of sunflower seeds.  I wasn’t sure if they had any life left.  I planted some along one wing of the house.

Dang, it worked better than expected.  By late summer the south facing plants were 12 to 14 feet tall!  When winter came Dad was back on his feet and I packed up and headed for another town.  My last serious gardening effort until I planted some peas 15-years-ago.  My daughter snacked on them.  A better alternative than crackers!

When I see the world in bloom I get a lift.  Even if it’s just for a brief moment.  There was one house we lived in when I was a kid.  The driveway ran along the wall where the kitchen was and lilac bushes lined the other side.  On spring nights I washed dishes with the windows open.  There was a sweet smell in the air.  I never saw doing the dishes as anything but pleasant.