One More Time Into the Fray

Jatropha multifida, this beauty native to Nigeria and cousin to Poinsettia was given to me for the garden. As you can see it likes it here.

Yes, it is one more time into the fray. I say this because I thought that all the work that I had done in restoring my house and creating the Collingswood garden would pay off for a lifetime. Guess, what? I am lucky for I have had a chance to re-invent myself yet again and dispel any silly phrases such as this.



Yesterday, I received my insurance renewal and it made me think that the one year anniversary is coming up since I bought the Tarpon House. It has been slow going as I had two houses there for awhile and then that little job and the trying to sell the Collingswood house in the middle of our lovely economy. All that has passed and I had another birthday, closer to collecting Social Security - in spite of what that other moron Perry from Texas said about it being a Ponzi scheme.



I bought this house knowing that it needed a lot of work and I have been at it. I have taken out some of the improvements that the prior owner created and returned the house to its original configuration. A hallway that once connected the master bedroom to a nursery and bathroom was reassigned as a sort of a walk in closet. Unfortunately, some people need access to the bathroom in the middle of the night and don't want to go on a tour of their house to get there. The results has brought back some of the original beauty of this old bungalow.


In the process of this restoration I took on removing the paint from the original trim. Once a grey chocolate stain covered all the woodwork in the house. During what is no doubt a few prior inhabitants, the trim went from the original stain to mustard, to shocking pink, to multiple shades and coats of white paint. This is not that many coats given that the house will be a century old next year. Some heavy elbow grease has revealed the wondrous way that the woodwork defined this house.

The nursery had stayed as a child's room or even a sewing room when I first saw the house. Needless to say, I don't have need for a nursery but certainly enjoy the proximity that it has to my bedroom and bathroom and have allocated this room as a TV/Sitting room/Library.
Due to its small size and lack of closet it makes for a cozy arrangement that I enjoy. It also overlooks the rear garden which is another work in progress.

The master bedroom has also come a long way from the way it was. I had to modernize the closet to accommodate more items (given that I only have one closet now) but with nine foot ceiling you can be creative with all these closet accessories.

None of the rooms are finished as I am having some trim recreated by a mill in Tampa that caters to owners of historic houses. They have everything you can imagine by way of original trim, floors custom milled to your needs for the same price you buy cheap pine at Home Depot or Lowes. So much for the modern supplier!

But the story continues to be about the garden. In spite of all the time I have taken ripping out walls, fixing plaster, matching woodwork, I still prefer to garden more than anything. The tropical rains have been pounding us in Florida and you all along the Northeast with regular ferocity.

When it pours I either sit and read the paper in the long porch or work on another of my interior fixes. It will be a while before the inside comes together whereas the outside is shaping up fast. With all this hot humid and constant rain you can plant anything or make cuttings and stick them in the ground to see them flourish in a few weeks.

I have slowly removed nine hibiscus plants that bordered the front of the house and were stunted with over pruning to make them fit a location where they should have never been planted. I am slowly creating a planted front yard that will softened all the pavement around my corner lot. Initially I feared that the hibiscus would not survive due to the blistering heat and the shock I anticipated from transplant. I root pruned all these about two months ago and scaled the plants back to a third their size. Little by little I tested digging them up one at a time or as much heat as I could take outside before escaping to the air conditioned comfort of interior remodeling. Somehow I have discovered that Hibiscus are very hardy plants indeed. Far more than I ever considered mollycoddling them as interior plants in New Jersey.

With the arrival of the tropical rains most of the plants did not seem to even notice that I had transplanted them and started blooming. I also received some nice plants from my friend  Julia in for my birthday. What a great idea to send someone a pineapple plant!

One of the great recoveries is that of my Plumeria that has wondered the country like me since leaving Los Angeles. It bloomed a few times in a pot while in Collingswood, but never with any vigor. Here in the tropics it has found the home it was looking for. In spite of this miserable soil lacking any nutrients it is a survivor - more than that it thrives! It has come home and has started anew.

Today is September 11 and I think of all those people who got up that day and went to work like I did, but did not get another chance to do much more than make it into our collective memory as heroes of that insanity not so long ago. So, I am very lucky to get to go once more into the fray of living and enjoying life even if it means remodeling another house and creating another garden. Happy Gardening!

Just when you thought you had done everything...

The trip home to Tarpon was more or less the same. It was long and uneventful with the exception of massive downpours which are more or less the norm in Florida during the tropical summer. Yet, regardless of how much comes down by the morning it is usually bone dry thanks for our sandy soil. I had a lot of time to think about the time and future that lay ahead of us and how I wanted to spend it. Unfortunately, I was totally dead from the final week of packing and saying goodbyes and the stress of the sales transaction.

People often ask me how Limo survives these long trips. He has a way of rolling up into a ball as you can see here with even a prop to place his chin. He is no fool with no cares in the world. He comes up for air like clockwork when it is feeding time and time for his relief breaks. The trip between Collingswood and Tarpon is about 17 hours and I have done it straight through many times, but on this trip there was no hurry anymore for anything. The moving truck was a week away so we could take our time and find a roadway stop in one of the Carolinas like we have done when we spend the night on the road.
This trip was not much different except as noted for I was exhausted. As it was, everything went like smooth sailing and so did the trip south. Here near Smithfield, North Carolina at a fancier motel than our norm we found that someone had taken a corner out of the lawn to grow Okra, the gooey vegetable of the South. It was really quite a patch.

Eventually the truck arrived and I feared everything would be broken. Last time I hired movers to load the truck and in their infinite wisdom they placed fragile boxes underneath my library of 65 boxes of books. I was not going to pay for the expertise of movers again and experience some of the damage I had to find on the prior move. So, I figured that for the few remaining items and there were just a few, mind you, I could do the loading myself with a little help. Well like the educated person I am, I miscalculated the amount of my remaining possessions. Initially I packed everything carefully and beautifully stacked taking care to place boxes of fragile items on top of paper laden heavy ones. Unfortunately, this rhythm could not be sustained and by the end I had placed the bulkheads in place and threw whatever was left on top of my leaning tower of possessions. As it is, when I unloaded things in Tarpon there was not one casualty. I should clarify that I have not yet opened all the boxes and am hopeful that I did just as good a job as my professional movers from the last move....
In Tarpon a new puppy in the neighborhood. This marbled Great Dane is not quite a year and already weighs 120 pounds. I pity the person picking up after him.
Before leaving Tarpon for Escrow closing on Collingswood I had been doing my research for compost to amend my miserable dune into something more palatable to plants. From a neighbor I found that a neighboring municipality has mountains of compost available and will deliver it free to get rid of it. I called and made arrangements for a truck load of this free gold. The people were delighted with the fact that I could use massive quantities of it and they would give me as much as I will ever need. They will not help home owners who want the equivalent of a bag or two, but if you want the volume of a volkawagon bettle or two they are there for your help. The day my moving truck arrived so did ten cubic yards of loamy compost which I am slowly using to change the face of my garden. I need to get a better wheel barrow than the one that I borrowed for carting around the garden. As is, I have to garden between 7:30 and 10 AM as any later is too warm for me and I am pouring sweat as is. Nice early morning exercise.

The key to gardening in Florida is water. Above is a line of drip irrigation that I ran through the garden to provide irrigation as I develop the various garden areas I have in mind. I have been trying to figure out how to activate a system of cisterns that existed in historic time to collect rainwater. Two massive tanks exists buried in the sand that may have been holding tanks for a hand pump well or flow from the roof system. Most of my neighbors have wells which they use to irrigate with the aid of electric pumps. Water where I live is fairly close to the surface. The man at Home Depot explained how with a few of their tools and gizmos I too could have my own well that I can plug into my drip irrigation. This too shall happen, but this is the rainy season so there is no need to hurry things along we get rainfall of one kind or another just about everyday or thereabouts.

I got a chance to mulch the palms that I had planted on the side of my house. Now with the mulch and the drip irrigation I placed in the areas I intend to garden, I should be set to create a new tropical garden jungle.

The back of the house where once stood the above ground pool has slowly filled in with grass and is becoming definable as a garden with a multitude of fruiting and flowering shrubs that were there and to which I have added just a few plants. Of course this is one of 4 or five garden areas that I am working on so improvements will come slow.

I am not too keen on having a lawn which means gasoline and noise and fumes or a service to pay. For now I am going with the lawn but I have my sights set on a landscape groundcover peanut that is decorative and has a lovely yellow blossom. It does not grow more than a few inches tall and creates quite a thick mat of green that can be walked on. In Collingswood my wonder plant was Liriope, this may well be the liriope of Florida.

It took me eleven years to get my house and garden perfect in Collingswood. I am in no hurry this time. It is all about the journey and the process I know I will get there; wherever there is.

Just when you thought you had done everything stupid in your life you reach a new climax! Cleaning the cupboards I came across this package which I thought would provide me healthy sustenance snack along the trip down to Tarpon. It said healthy and peanut butter cups and corn and wheat free. Either I did not have my glasses on or was too much in a hurry to read the label in further detail. I had already packed Limo's food and snacks so I thought this one would be great for me. Along the trip I opened the package and took out a couple of the little muffins which I found were rather bland and tasteless. I figured it was par for the course as most healthy foods seem to lack in strong flavors. Limo was exceedingly excited and I had to get him to calm down as these treats were for me and not him. A few hundred miles later the same episode repeated itself with me feeling the same sort of letdown from the bland muffins. I came to an opportunity to stop and get something to drink and had a chance to read the label, with glasses, this time, to find out that I had been feeding myself very healthy dog biscuits. Well, all I can say is that I thank whichever friend gave me these for the trip home as I have been feeling a little bit more frisky than usual and I growl at strangers...Happy Gardening!

Arrivederci Collingswood

It does not sound as good as the Roma version we are familiar with, nor am I leaving a love behind, but I will miss my old town nevertheless. The week has been grueling with non stop work packing and throwing away so much that seemed so important and isn't. Limo has been my constant companion in this exercise hoping to bring one of his toys to distract me and get some playtime. The reality that we spend a lifetime collecting objects to please our sense of worth and to validate our experiences and travels and for the pleasure of doing it. We receive legacies from relatives, professions and departed friends. Then one day you want to relocate and you know you must lighten your load. You question why it is that you have kept all these objects. Some people don't keep anything, others horde and then there are those in between. Every object has a story and a reason for keeping it.

Some of the remnants

I had a porch and sidewalk sale to manage to collect some money from things that might be worth something more than donating or thrashing would provide. A bit of an act of desperation when there is no real need for it. I normally would have just given everything away to multiple AIDS groups to raise money for hospice care and the like, but our local AIDS charity went out of business from lack or patients or support; I don't know which. Other groups such as Purple Heart have a schedule, and Goodwill and Salvation Army have selective policies on what they take anymore. So I tried to make a few dollars and get a chance to see and talk with neighbors and passerbyers. It also afforded me a chance to rest from the boredom of packing. Everything that was left over was picked by a man who took to a children's charity. Mission accomplished.

Friends have come by to photograph the garden fearing changes to come or "as they put it knowing it's here and they will not have access"

Well that is done the packing is not over, but by the time this posts, it will be. I am getting a head start to write this blog as the final days in Collingswood will be overwhelming with real estate transactions, utilities, Internet shut off...you name it. The week has been spent working and packing and unfortunately I have not much time to sit down and enjoy it all. Oh well, I guess I had twelve years of enjoyment.

Parting shot this morning

Collingswood has been home, whether great or small for twelve years and I enjoyed life there with many wonderful friends in a very pleasant community. This week has been about camaraderie of friends and neighbors. All my neighbors and most of my friends have come to help or offer refreshment or nourishment. I have just returned from my last night out in my favorite restaurant in town with some of my dearest Collingswoodites. Tomorrow with luck I will sign the papers get the check and make my way to Tarpon Springs. But as in the lyrics and without to much ado: "...it is time for us to part." So signing off from Collingswood for the final time, Happy Gardening wherever you are!

Limo at Document Signing

PS Another grueling morning with too much to fit in the car for the trip home. My friend Rich bailed me out at last minute taking extra stuff to his home as the moving truck had already left. Even Limo got in on the act. He came to his second closing. Enjoy the clip taken by Rich who at one moment calls him Taxi. She is still part of the scene. It all worked out and I am half-way back to Tarpon spending the night in North Carolina

Back in Collingswood

garden slightly overgrown but majestic

I am sorry for the long time between blogs. Between setting up one house and a garden and selling another and computer problems you guessed it...

Well, I am back in Collingswood packing the last of my things tending the garden for one final time. After visiting the house I don't know how many times, a couple fell in love with it - I hope. The buyers found my shaggy practices a bit too much for them and wanted it restrained a bit. Quite frankly the garden had not been tended in three months and it looked quite splendid before I started grooming. But in all honesty, it was way over the top. I had always compared its grand walk to Versailles and called it Versaillette due to its formal aspect. Upon my arrival the gravel walk looked more like the Amazon surrounded by the primeval tropical forest. You can imagine that I am slightly, just slightly exaggerating the obvious. A dear friend called it embellishing when he did it. As, he put it "the truth sometimes needs improvement." My garden doesn't look anymore like Versailles than it does the Amazon; enjoy it just the same....

another view of the overgrown state

It has been anticlimactic to be home in Collingswood. As much as I love the house and garden, I now consider Florida home and wish I could return there ASAP. Closing on the house is due in early July and until then, I will have time to enjoy and get time to see my local friends whom I miss very much. You don't live in a house (what would be 12 years in August) and don't get to know your neighbors and develop long lasting relationships, whereas in Tarpon, it has only been eight months since I bought the place and it will be awhile before those deep bonds of friendship are established. Most of my immediate neighbors speak Greek and keep to themselves. The people who I have met are exeni (non Greeks) or Greeks not from there and we are slowly working on friendships to come. It may take longer for the Greeks to accept an outsider.

Julia with goodies on hand

It was Limo's first big party

Last night my Collingswood crowd assembled for one last time at the house. My dearest friends some classmates from Graduate School at Penn, others from the neighborhood and one just born a few years ago who is a delightful young girl I have seen grow before me. It was my Swan Song Party or so I called it. This time it was not a grand sit down meal with Cassoulet, it was a pot luck of appetizers. People arrived with wonderful goodies concocted or bought and bottles of wines which we indulged into the late night.

Friends around the wine cooler

Noshing amongst the boxes

Part of the evening was about catching up with me as well as my friends catching up with one another. Groups went about discovering the food and assembling into small groups throughout the house and the garden. I tried to catch up with everyone bouncing around from one group to another. The evening progressed until I had an idea that had been sparked earlier during the week when Limo started digging a hole in the garden. Normally I would have filled it in without a second thought but this time I saw it as an opportunity. I announced to the crowd that I hoped it would not seem inappropriate if we buried Taxi ashes in the garden. As all gathered knew her it seemed appropriate that while we were assembled together we lay to rest her remains in her garden.

Vori's images of the garden after cleanup

Taxi had for years protected the boundaries I gave her with diligence, now it was our turn to honor her. We all filled our glasses and I took the ashes and placed them in the hole Limo provided us - a wonderful sense of continuity. We all drank a toast to her and to our moment together. The night was truly magical as though there were natural fireworks while hundreds of fireflies were sparkling all around honoring the event.

Another potential buyer

Now what is left is to finish the packing, the throwing away and the loading of the truck bound for Tarpon Springs. I will get to spend one more Independence day in the region that is known for this great summer festival of freedom. I will more than likely spend quite times enjoying the garden and seeing what new surprises it has in store for me.

Upon arrival last week I noticed a box turtle who was sunning itself cushioned by the liriope. Unfortunately it was in the front garden next to the driveway by the for sale sign and how it got there is a small miracle. I picked it up and placed it in the rear garden to join the rest of the wildlife that is currently in residence. I can't imagine that I will see a race between the turtle and the rabbits, but it is nice to know that I have created such a desirous habitat for man or beast. Happy Gardening!

Learning the lay of the land

When I purchased the house in Collingswood it had no garden. It was just a lawn sitting, in what I would later discover, a clay pan. A clay pan is a pretty daunting natural feature that is a layer of soil (if you want to call it that) better suited for cutting up and making bricks than for plantings. Yet, I persisted and eventually had the garden you all have seen.

Tarpon Springs is at the polar opposite of Collingswood; it is a reclaimed beach dune. Florida, fertility comes predominately from its sunlight and abundance of rainfall. The soil is more or less the weakest element. Yet, the soil because of its porous nature allows plants to tap deep roots into a water table that is not too far below the surface. The mangos around my neighborhood grow primarily under the shade of large Live Oaks. This co-existence would not happen if they did not each have a steady water supply. Very few houses around me have sprinklers and those that do use it to water their concrete. The Greeks in my neighborhood have an usual aesthetic nature so they concrete most of their yards and leave holes for planting. This is great for not getting too much movement of sand, but not necessarily great for plants. Yet this is Florida, incredibly fecund!

Above gives you an idea what I am working with. When I bought the house it had an above ground pool that left a circle of solid white sand. Add a little water and pull out the weeds and I suspect in a few months it will be a solid lawn. I had a bonfire to remove a lot of debris and spread the ashes around to add some nutrient to the soil. I am not thrilled with the idea of keeping lawns, but for now green will suit my purposes until other and better ideas for groundcover can be implemented.It is so fecund that the sprigs of vines or plants appear in the strangest places. Here coming out of my porch baluster cap a bleeding heart vine (some form of clerodendron) that appears to grow out of concrete in some places. It is quite gorgeous and delicate looking as you can see from the picture below.

If palms are the basic tree stock around these parts then Hibiscus are the prevalent shrub. They come in so many color and forms. There are single and double forms. There are up facing and down facing; some fully open and others remain always closed. Here are a few in my garden and the fabulous pink is from a neighbor who has agreed to give me a cutting so I can propagate my own.

A simple red hibiscus. I remember these as a kid growing up in Cuba where they were as big as trees. Mine are up against the house and soon to be relocated.

A double or triple form that is referred to locally as the poodle hibiscus because when seen from a certain angle it does resemble the profile of a poodle. What can I tell you? I did not make it up!

This beauty is a towering ten feet and covered with these delicate flowers that do not flinch in 90 degree heat.

Well, all this fecundity is not going to waste believe me. There appears to be bugs here to eat it all if allowed. This is the lubber grasshopper that appeared one day as cute little darlings the size of a paper clip. My neighbor started stepping on them as he claimed they ate everything very fast even though they are not fast themselves. The one picture above is roughly four inches across! This one like most others were naturally removed by me or Limo who has developed an appetite for them. Good boy!

Of course, the Lubbers are not the only creatures around. These White ibis, are up early in the morning catching what few worms my soil has. So I have take to shooing them away in order to build up my stock soil producing worms.

There is every manner of lizard and gecko around. These keep the bugs at bay they serve a little like my birds did in Collingswood. Here for some strange reason I see few flocks of birds in the garden. There is very little for them to eat, but that will come. However, if I get too many birds they will probably hunt the lizards and other bug eating reptiles. Yes, reptiles. I saw a large black (three or four feet) one about a week or so ago making its way through the garden. I am told it is called a black racer. Harmless and beneficial as it eats fruit rats! Yes, with all these marvelous gardens producing bumper crops of fruits we have rats that eat them. Fortunately, there are snakes to keep them in check. So far I have only seen the snake and not the rat.

In my rain barrel a large toad appeared one day and the then there were two. Somehow these manage to survived buried deep underground and surface when the wet weather comes. I suspect they eat more bugs so that is good and possibly if too many they can be a snack for the snakes!

I guess you can see that I am having fun. It is marvelous to get up everyday and have beautiful blue skies and warm weather greet you. I never thought these two things would be so important to me. I have been meeting people and getting cuttings from their gardens. My friend Paula has misters where I currently have possibly 100 different plants growing for future planting. I guess, for now, I am on my discovery period, dazzled by all that is fresh and new and I am sure some of the new may not be so wonderful when it gets old, but for now....

It is not everyday that you wake up to find this magnificent White Egret perched on your kitchen chimney. Well, it happened a few weeks ago and it was there casing the joint (as it were) and looking for something to eat no doubt. Limo was actually quite taken by it and the egret did not run away until it chose another spot. I wonder if it might return like a stork and set up a nest. Well, there is something to investigate. Happy Gardening.

Yes, my boy is a year old today (May 12, Blogger has been out on repairs). He came to this world in a farm in southern Ohio. Little did he know what lay in store for him or for that matter for me. I had spent over a year researching shelters and potential female Dalmatians for adoption. All I found were deranged shelter owners, who wanted to know if my blood was blue and how much I could donate. All with one exception in Virginia where at Southwest Dals we made a connections, unfortunately I was late and it was adopted and then other pups did not fare out.

I am picky in case you have not figured it out. Better yet, I know what I want or so I think. I was looking for a female because all Dalmatians have a gene that predisposes them to kidney stones because of high uric acid. Females handle it better and are not prone to the costly and painful operations thats males endure. My friend Louise found an article about low uric Dals with a modified gene acquired through one breeding with a German Short Hair Pointer in the 1970's produced normal uric Dalmatians and I was off in a different direction looking at breeders for potential adoptions. Through the magic of the Internet I met a breeder of these special gene Dalmatians and later someone else who had bred Limo and his family.

I have only had him since last August and what a wonderful time it has been. Limo has grown from ten pounds to almost sixty. He was this cute little shy dog and now he is a very determined teenager. He is curious and confident and strides around the bayou parks like he owns them. There are few people in Tarpon Springs that don’t know him (we are a small community).

Limo with the Gro Group

After his birthday treats this morning I put him to work. There is nothing better for an animal than to have a purpose or a job. I took him to the Gro Group nursery center to meet and be with a group of people who would love him and get him started as a therapy dog. The Gro Group takes care of special need adults with all kinds of activities related to crafts but especially growing plants. I have been going there to propagate plants for the garden and spend some time with some very curious and special people. Paula and Claire create projects to involve these adults in meaningful activities.

This morning was special for all. Even Limo got a lesson he had not planned as Paula arrived with a one day one kitten that she was nursing with a doll baby bottle. She had been up numerous times last night to feed this kitten that was smaller than a handful. Limo pictured above did not know what to make of this creature.
Well, if you did not guess it, Limo is the love of my life. He is a great companion and we have a lot of fun together. We walk on the beach and he runs like a banshee from one end to the other. In the Florida garden, Limo has become my pest control best friend. I found these once small grasshoppers that have eaten their way to three inch bugs and are very slow on their feet. Limo has been decimating them. I feared he might get sick as they are not meant to be palatable, but he has figured that out on his own and now crunches and drops them. Oh, well what can you do? He is a dog after all!

Many, many thanks to those who were helpful and responsible for me finding and getting Limo. These include but are not limited to Louise Marshall for finding the normal uric Dals, Debi Smith for having adopted the Dal I wanted so I could keep hunting for another, Barb Allison for breeding normal uric Dals getting me in touch with Sally McDonnel who let me have Limo. Finally Vori Kriaris who drove from Ohio back to Philadelphia so I could spend 6 hours scrunched with my puppy in the hatchback of the Prius. Happy First Birthday, Boy. Happy Gardening!

Packing Remainders

I have been back in Collingswood taking care of the fine packing. It is easy to haul books, records, and furniture because they are somewhat essential to your life. There are other elements of your life that are packaged in little boxes and put in out of the way places so you can visit them every so often but are not so easy to deal with. It is easy to throw away old records, linens and clothes but it is yet another matter when you surface your baby booties that your mother somehow managed to get out of a country that did not allow her to leave with anything more than three outfits.

I am going through the real elements of my life. My college papers from Occidental college. My original thesis from 1974 and all of its accompanying research and criticisms in French, no less. Some of the early gifts that were given to me by my parents such as a Bell and Howell Super Eight movie camera, projector and screen for high school graduation. I have it all and all the movies I made with them of my family. I sent the projector and the screen to Florida and just discovered the camera. These gifts cost a fortune in 1970 and today the camera is not even worth $10.00 on EBay. Do you know that they still make super eight film. Maybe, no, never mind.

It would be great if I had kids to leave all this crap to but I don't. Even if I did, I doubt they would want it. The meaning of all these things is locked up in my brain and appears to have no importance to anyone else. I also just discovered a collection of Airplane Trading Cards that were published in Chicago and a little research brought out hundreds of others who have similar collections. They are still held together by an old shoe lace ( I can't swear if it is Cuban or not). Mine are slightly different. The front of the card is in English with the color image and plane description. The back of the card is in Spanish with all the statistics. You see mine cards I got in Cuba and it was one of two toys that I was allowed to take out the country. Somehow, I have not thrown them away like I did the ensemble of Robin Hood plastics figures that like toy soldiers used to occupy my childhood play fantasies.

I have a multitude of items that I have carried with me for too long. Not having any siblings I am in charge of this patrimony, but these are not national treasures just my lost youth and infancy which we all have. It is painful to revisit with them and even harder the idea that they are nothing but junk with pentimentos of life.

There are also what appear now as questionable elements in interior design that cost too much money and somehow don't fit in your life anymore. I still have items from a great store in Los Angeles called the Akron that went out of business years and years ago.

I have boxes of my Father's personal items which I got when I went to stop him from committing suicide in Florida and failed. I have the clippings from the newspaper where he appeared as a victim of suicide by cop. I have an evening news video showing him spread out under a sheet in the middle of the street. I have the letters to the lawyer when I pursued suing the hospital and the doctors who released him due to Medicare coverage limitations when he was not of stable mind, depressed over his cancer. Maybe the Republicans should get rid of medicare and their own personal medical program at the same time so they can face the misery and helplessness I faced. My lawyer explained that because he was 80 years old and his life was valued on the remaining expectancy and because no doctor would have spoken up against another it would be a hard case to make or win. I could have ruined myself trying to prevent another such medical neglect but instead I dropped the entire matter and got on with my life. Even if I threw away this box, it is carved in my brain.

Fortunately, I also have my father's Zenith Trans-Oceanic Radio. Father purchased this to keep in touch with life in Cuba. You can imagine how weird it was to be in your living room in Los Angeles listening to all manner of programming from Cuba. Well, it will serve me well as the reception in Tarpon Springs is abysmal. I can barely hear public radio as it is sandwiched in between all manner of Christian broadcasting networks. Needless to say, not a personal preference. Also, I may want to listen to what is going on in Cuba now that I am that much closer.

Limo in a very green garden soon to be full of other colors

Last Saturday I attended a reading group at my UU church in Cherry Hill. The subject was gardening and I had been asked to lead the discussion. I told the organizer that as much as I wanted to do this, I was in transition and was not certain if I would be in Collingswood for the event. I also thought it not fair to give me the honor when I am moving on and there are many other local UUs to handle the task. Luckily, I was here and could attend. When it came time for me to speak I said what I will tell you. Gardening for me is as natural as breathing. It comes to me from as long ago as those booties. It is the only place I know that I can put my mind on hold and instinctually take care of the plants that nurture and delight me. It is also a place that calms me like no other where I can forget the hate and disappointment that I have faced in my life. So when I say to you happy gardening, I mean it!