Days off

At the direction of my supervisor, I took Monday and 1/2 of Tuesday off from work. I've never gardened in my entire life, but for some reason I decided it would be a good plan to follow through with my desire to have that bush in the backyard removed. I got a bit out of control and cleaned up the entire backyard (with the help of my future sister-in-law, Adrianne). I realize I only took one "before" picture, but you might appreciate me telling you that the back deck was covered in leaves and twigs and the tables and chairs were stacked along the fence by that tree. The tree was also out of control and today I chopped off some of the branches. I don't know if this was a good idea or not, since I'm not an arborist (isn't this the correct term? spell check is saying not...), but I don't really care very much right now. I also dug out all of the leaves from behind that tree. I still have to attempt to dig out the gigantic roots from that stupid bush, and that is going to be a pain in the ass, as they are huge and rocks are embedded in them. The only reason I took a picture of the lawn bags was to show you how much work I actually managed to do yesterday and today. I think I used a total of 14 lawn and leaf bags! Who knew yard work could be so therapeutic?

On the loss of a friend

My friend, Patrick, provided the following words today. They are perfect for this time. For those unaware of Sunday's events, see my facebook page.

Thoreau's words:

“On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world.”

Grieving does strange things to a person...like Making them garden.