osprey94's Blog

snow...
Apr 19, 2008 | 10:15 AM PST

It's been snowing all morning. Perfect for blogging. I've been thinking about my dad a lot lately. He was an incredible gardener. He planted our entire front yard - no grass! His veggie garden was HUGE and could've fed the whole neighborhood. I think he worked just to support his gardening habit (and me). I didn't catch the gardening bug until after he was gone.

He died four years ago and his death brought a complex jumble of emotions. He broke my heart when he was alive and he broke my heart when he died. Our relationship was a tense, painful one.

I miss him as a person, now and I wonder if our common passion in gardening would've strengthened our relationship.

I think of him every time I'm in the garden and dedicate every ounce of effort I put into it to his memory.

Every spring when the seed catalogs start arriving, I smile to see that a few of them are still addressed to him, but forwarded to me. His gift to me. A peace offering. A reminder that he is me and I am him, and that gardening is the medium between us.

Better late than never!

Now, on to the weather. Next spring, I'll be able to see this entry and think to myself, oh yeah...it snowed in late April last year, and then summer did actually come anyway. Hope is not gone.

So, here's the view from the porch at around 8am:

Here's the same view at around 9am:

I've already cleaned off the hummer feeders twice this morning.

Here are my lettuce and spinach seedlings:

Poor things.

And here are my peas. Very sad:

Summer will arrive, right?

It's 10am, now and the snow is still coming down. Sigh.

Maybe next weekend, I'll be able to get something done!