What a long, strange year it’s been

OK, it’s the beginning of June so it’s only been a little over five months so far, but it seems like the Spring just dragged on.  The weather was just too disorganized and didn’t settle into a normal or at least expected seasonal pattern.  I just couldn’t get a handle mentally on where I was in the year.  It doesn’t even really feel like June yet.

The rain and humidity were also a drag.  Last year just seemed to go so much more easily and I had more energy.  We even did some gardening.  In fact, I think that’s why I felt better.

Now, we didn’t get that much done.  The guy who does our lawn dug up a front bed that once had some shrubs in it.  They got too big for the space, got very woody and began to die off.  That was bad for the shrubbery but left a good spot for planting.  We put in some ornamental grasses and flowers and the like and it turned out pretty good.  We also did some container gardening for veggies and herbs.

I like to say that in two months we got a good weekend’s worth of work done.

Pathetic, but true.  It was, however, very therapeutic.  Getting out in the sun and fresh air and doing something constructive was really good for both of us.  We decided the money was better spent now and wouldn’t really help in retirement, so we went for it.  Somehow I was OK with that.  We also pushed ourselves physically – work 15 minutes, sit down for an hour, that sort of thing.  Still, I don’t think I’ve been that relaxed in years.  It was great.  I learned some things, too. 

Things got too hot for the leafy greens but we got a lot of excellent cherry tomatoes, those plants just wouldn’t quit.  We also had some cucumbers, green peppers, string beans and a couple handfuls of really good lima beans.  The rabbits got all of the blossoms so no zucchini, but plenty of basil and mint and dill and a few other herbs.

This year not so much.  The weather really hasn’t been cooperating.  Even if we had gotten some vegetables planted I doubt that they would have survived.  We’re still going to try though.  Some of the herbs actually survived the winter and are coming back, as are most of the flowers and plants out front.  Even some of the annuals and the strawberries came back and I was sure the snow and ice would have done them all in.

We also have three tomato plants growing.  They’re either from some tomatoes that dropped off last year’s plants or the squirrels planted them.  However it happened we have some tomatoes going – so I guess not everything would have died if we had planted it, but we didn’t have the strength to do it anyway.

We’ll just get some plants and put them in, probably next week, and see what happens.  It won’t be as much work but it should get us out of the house and into the sunlight and fresh air.  I think it will be almost as satisfying.  I want us to get that same feeling we had last year.

And we want some more of those cherry tomatoes.