walking the yard

Around here we don't have "lawns" y'all.  The current state of affairs at both my house and Casa Grands is lots of limbs down and a few green things coming up like daffodils and surprise lilies.  When I visited there this morning I actually saw a bud.  Daddy and I have always been digging crap up and moving it from yard to yard like in the old days.  I have Ethel's iris and my own assortment of spring things from where I spent the grocery money on bulbs one year.  Snowdrop is out and crocus right behind.  I stopped to give Mozella a B12  shot and we got to talking about the phlox that came from their family to each of our yards.  Daddy used to walk the yard with his mother on Pate street.  Every time he came my way, there was a meandering around the familiar turf as we identified this or that plant.  A lot of what I have in perennials came from the former mistress of this old house, Mrs. W.W. Council.

She died about ten years before Mr C got moved to something safer by his son.  Daddy and I spent the better part of six months cleaning and remodeling.  That was 26 years ago in April.  I would leave the sawmill and visit him while he painted or papered and dream about my life to come.  I wanted with all of my heart for my own daughter to experience the country life as a child.  And she did so with gusto!   Pnoler and I got a divorce when she was in 5th grade and then another one when she graduated from high school. During that in between time something happened that I can't fathom but it haunts her still.  My friends Claudia and Angie treated me with a divorce party in Nashvegas on the weekend he moved out.  At the time I was totally smitten with a guy who didn't give a shit about me but he got me out of a complicated relationship so there you go.

There were multiple old sheds that eventually were torn down but I still have pictures of poke berry bushes framing weathered wood.  Gumby was the hired hand on that one and helped me scrap out the Bizzle house too.  Back in the day there was a motion activated dog named Rex after the crackheads stole a bunch of shit.  One entire wall was covered with license plates from various states.  It was his haven when he needed to get away and putter.   There was one room filled with things like the wedding dress in a cedar chest and a lot of our family history.  Plus a lot of junk....just saying.

I noticed a snake skin hanging off the curtain rod at Mama'n'thems and Bubba reminded me of the time she found a live snake in the kitchen drawer.  I would have had the big one for sure.  The ladies are staging and sorting today so I visited early rather than late.  Y'all won't believe how pretty it is when that line of buttercups blooms under the pines.