Garden of Earthly Delights

Today, I'm playing "the wife" though I'm not exactly sure of my motivations. The garden crew is here to continue work and perhaps finish up the work they started yesterday. Plants have been placed and now the hole digging begins and as I write, I can hear the pound pound pound of shovels and post-hole diggers. I love this picture as it shows the shadow of our old cherry tree against the house and the greenery Madeline (bent over) is about to plant.

My second favorite picture is this one:

Ann with her hands in the dirt and a happy smile on her face. She loves this stuff, mucking around and getting dirty. She, then, is playing "the husband" role while I stay inside watching the "child" -- Rubin who is delighted by the activity, but struggles with just watching from the window. He barks and whines and want to join in the fun. Right now I have him settled down underneath the desk with a promise of a long walk in the woody park at the end of the lake. I think he rolled his eyes at first, but now he's being as patient as a puppy can be. Meanwhile, the coffee cake I constructed for the work crew is cooling on the stove. See, the wife. My mother would be proud. Not that I'm a "wife," but that I'm cooking for the workers. Money is nice, but food always feels like a nice payment in addition to the salary one earns.

The crew has grown in size today. There's Madeline and Kristen, who were here yesterday...

Madeline on the left...Kristen on the right prepping the soil yesterday for today's planting...






Then there's Fred, digging holes for plants and more plants. We learned he's an artist as well. He paints watercolors in his studio in Port Townsend and works for Madeline to pay for his art addiction.

Ann is helping Pedro, moving the red bark maple to the front of the house.

And below is James, the man Rubin wants to play with all day long. James is gentle and quiet and just like the rest of the workers, he rarely rests except for a drink of water or a fresh-baked brownie brought to him by yours truly, the wife. To the right, all the workers (including Anna by the bamboo) spending the chilly, sunny day making our yard a garden of earthly delights.