My loose ends have found their way.  Like the tendrils say,  maybe of a grape vine,  or maybe the honeysuckle out there they gave me last year…those tendrils,  extending out… groping,  blind….but just going, simply Assuming they will 

touch

something 

and can begin to take hold of it for the Just Going…..

my tendrils today Touched.    As Hildegaard de Bingen said,  "all is well and all Shall be well, and  All manner of things Shall Be Well.    I feel that this evening.

What Was Hope Farm Native Plant Nursery.  Mike and Thelma's place.  That they quit doing a couple years ago.  Who for years,  each week,  i would go to and buy some plant.  Many of which subsequently died but some of which didn't.  The trees and bushes here,  the Feather grasses are theirs,  the ones that remain somehow felt "native" enough,  here in this wind swept Place.  The ones that died,  died from  lack of consistent water,  which was me.  Inconsistent.  Because of Circumstances.  But i will never regret the joy of trying.

Thelma grew up here.  Mike grew up in Florida.  They met in the Navy and married.  Lived in San Diego and Florida and finally came here.  Bought this piece of Earth all stone and just went.

 

it looked all like This in the beginning.  Nothing but this.

 

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but then….

 

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all the plants are sleeping now.   and being there,  i remembered about the Sleeping now.  Sleeping now became OK today.   I'll take us back in spring when they awaken.  It is Stunning.

 

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their first greenhouse,  just scrap wood and recycle.  Here two wildly productive Fig trees

 

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the leaves all fallen below

 

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a few, clinging to the Mother

 

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one of the first Sage plants

 

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two lemon trees.  Thelma and i came in here to get out of the WIND.   It was silent and still and warm and punguent.

 

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Mike's fire pit

 

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their Point of View

 

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this is Thelma.  I love her like a sister.   Over the last years,  and more when the Goats came,  when they visited her mother and father on Sunday,  they would all come Here.  We would sit and watch the Goats and talk and laugh.  Her father died last year.  Her mother has moved to Albuquerque to a nieces home and can go to the Casino which she likes.  Is near her doctor.  As i said,  Thelma and Mike are readying their house and their Place to sell.  To move to …correction…southern Washington state,  not Oregon,  but southern Washington State where their daughter and her two sons live.  Today we talked about that.  They are unsure.   But they are doing what needs to be done, in case.  Will they?  Won't they?????????   But it was a day FULL of so much.  So,  just this for now.   I think how it is that Life gives us what we need in every single moment.  And i NEEDED this today.  And i was Given.  So So Given.

 

 

 

 

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15 responses to “My loose ends”

  1. Mo Crow Avatar

    their garden has such good bones

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  2. grace Avatar

    it does, Mo. such bones. it is strong. and fierce, their Garden.

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  3. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    The comfort of neighbors who matter can not be underestimated, even just knowing they’re there. Thelma is like a tree – sturdy and straight forward, and the work that went into moving all those stones!

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  4. Wendy @ the Late Start Studio Avatar

    I would give you a great big warm hug if I could . . . I hope they stay nearby.

    Like

  5. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Thelma and Mike have given such caring and beauty, with their stones, to their home. Each and every stone in their garden, their land, speaks of caring and Seeing, to create such beauty as well as usefulness. Each one, a little dwelling of its own holding plant life, holding spirit. Hard to think of leaving such a place that one has put their heart and soul into…good that you all shared the day and thank you for sharing it with us.

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  6. jude Avatar

    I see “solid ground” in all this.

    Like

  7. Stephanie Avatar
    Stephanie

    I absolutely love these pictures. I hope that Thelma and Mike will be guided into making the decision that is right for them. It would be so difficult to leave this great beauty without lasting and deep regret (speaking for myself).

    Like

  8. Liz Avatar

    Placing stones is such a fundamental act … it would be hard to leave such a place.

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  9. grace Avatar

    i wish they were neighbor neighbors, as in just down the road.
    They are on the other side of Socorro, maybe 25 minutes away…
    but easy enough. Thelma is also like a tree in her Heart, sturdy of Heart. Her Father’s daughter.

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  10. grace Avatar

    i would so Receive a great big warm hug!

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  11. grace Avatar

    yes. good i went. and there will be Spring. Their place is
    Amazing. Mike can create spaces and is really really good at that but it’s Thelma than can grow Anything. She is forever sticking any seed into earth just to see What Happens. Her What Iffing is
    wonderFull.

    Like

  12. grace Avatar

    they are solid people. As i sat talking to them i thought about what it is that i love them about and there are many things.
    Solid would be one. Solid within themselves, within each other and then solid to Give.

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  13. grace Avatar

    they have not made the decision yet. Their daughter very much would like them there where she is. It’s a whole other world,
    southern Washington State….a whole NEW place to Grow.
    They love their Place. It fills them with purpose. But then,
    purpose can be Everywhere too. I am watching them not only
    for Them, but also for self, if it comes to be that at some
    Point it seems right to leave This Place…i am watching
    closely.

    Like

  14. grace Avatar

    and they did. and still do. place each stone, each rock. One by one. and over time it forever changes things. I know you
    and Don know this in your work on your Place, that placing.

    Like

  15. dee Avatar

    I loved this post. You pay such homage to friendship, gardening, the passage of time, changing needs.

    Like

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