Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Outdoor Therapy


I took a little walk today and saw those wisteria climbing a tree in front of the abandoned house three doors down from us. I just hate seeing that house so callously neglected but the people who own it have severe health problems and they can't even keep their own house or yard up. 

Farther down the road is where the wild azalea that I look out for every year lives. It is blooming as we speak and it is simply magnificent. There are also Cherokee roses blooming around and through it. 



It's a little past its prime but still highly worth noticing. My own native azalea that I planted years ago has budded up but not opened. It's more of an orange variety. I should plant more. They're just the most beautiful things. 

Some years ago I planted an Ashe magnolia in the camellia bed and it has struggled. A while back, a branch fell and broke off part of it and I wasn't sure it would make it but it's still with us although it is tiny. 


These too are a native species and I had never been aware of them until I visited a local nursery that specializes in native plants and they had a tree-sized one in the parking area. I fell in love and bought one that day. 

When I feared for that one's life I bought another and planted it in front of my swing porch by the native buckeye that I had planted. 


It gets more sun and although the Ashe magnolia is very shade tolerant, it still needs more light than the little one in the camellia bed gets. I am hoping that with the extra light gained from the removal of the Bradford pears, it will put on some growth. The one in front of the swing porch is about to bloom and that is well worth seeing. They, like the grandifloras, put forth a huge white blossom with a lemony, heavenly scent, but their petals are more delicate than the grandiflora's which are thick and waxy. Anyway, I will be checking that one daily because the flowers are so quick to come and then go. A brief beauty for sure. 

After my walk I ate my yesterday's leftovers for lunch and then went outside and kicked bamboo. While I was out there, I took a picture of the carpet of tung blossoms because it is so pretty.


I do love a tree that gives me pleasure when its blooms are on the branches and then again on the ground when they fall. 

After I kicked the bamboo I got back on my knees in the little yard behind the old kitchen and did some more clearing. This is the sort of weeding I like. The invasive plants in there are easier to pull or dig out than crocosmia and border grass and chenille plants. The wild phlox that I brought from the yard of my last house before this one have taken over that space nicely and I am not unhappy about that. I let them grow as thickly as they want to. They manage themselves in a sane and healthy manner. 

The book I've been listening to while I do all these things is a novel called "A Place For Us" and it was written by Fatima Farheen Mirza. It's gotten very good reviews by some serious reviewers and I am enjoying it although the way it jumps from year to year and back again and then forward again from the third person perspective of different members of a family took me some time to get used to. The writing is beautiful and strongly visual but this is not the book for someone wanting action or complex plot lines. It's the story of an Indian Muslim family who live in California and mostly describes how the family tries to maintain its cultural and religious beliefs despite the many challenges of doing so in this new (to the parents, at least) country. The book, due to its length and its voices, is able to grab on to big chunks of what one family's reality and experiences are from the perspective of its members. I'm enjoying it. 

And so it goes. I've pushed myself today a bit because when I woke up I was in a sort of trauma-drama from the dream I'd just had which was so bad. All of the familiar elements were there including the house filled with garbage and filth which I had to clean and there were no garbage bags, my stepfather whom I had to keep yelling at to get out of the room I was in, to leave me alone, to put on some clothes, two Christmas trees that were months overdue on being taken down, a child I was worried about, plants that needed planting, a storm on the ocean that the house was built next to, and that unending feeling of never being able to take care of it all. 
I felt like a completely fucked-up human being for whom there is no hope of ever coming to peace with any of it. 
But it did help to walk, to stay busy, to be on my knees in the dirt, to listen to a good book. 


Here is Maurice reminding me that well-worn overalls are the most comfortable garment of all. 

Lord, my fingernails are dirty. Sign of a well-spent day, in my experience. 

Love...Ms. Moon
 


36 comments:

  1. every one of those flowering plants are just lovely! I am in awe. The tung blossom carpet is so showy! And where is a better place for Maurice to nap than on your cleanly folded overalls? None. She found her place!
    Susan M

    ReplyDelete
  2. Um...isn't that wisteria, not hydrangea, in the first photo?
    Definitely a cat in the last one, though. No doubt about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I knew I was getting something wrong. I changed it.

      Delete
  3. Such a peaceful post. Great pictures, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a peaceful day. I love days at home.

      Delete
  4. The plants and your descriptions of them are lovely. Except for wisteria, which I hate with the fire of a thousand suns. Not that I feel strongly about it, really.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wisteria is definitely a drama queen who wants to take control of everything she touches.

      Delete
  5. Coming across a native azalea in bloom is like winning a big prize. Even if you saw it last year you can never be sure that you will see it again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This one has been there for some years now and is growing consistently bigger. Of course- we never notice them until they're in bloom.

      Delete
  6. I don't know if I've ever seen a wild azalea, now that I consider it. You do live in a wonderfully flower filled place. All these pictures have been a balm to my heart! I've been really struggling with dreams lately. I don't know why, but over, and over, I've been having dreams that I'm back in the army. I have no idea why. They are not awful dreams. Just....strange...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are so lucky to have the wild azaleas here. They are sometimes planted in yards and can do quite well there if the elements are right.
      I have no idea why you'd be dreaming about being back in the army. How odd. A thing I've noticed is that even when I think I know for sure what a thing in my dreams means, I still keep having the dreams. I guess just knowing does not eliminate the anxiety.

      Delete
  7. 37paddington: trauma drama—that dream had it all. You must have been exhausted on waking. I wish you only sweet dreams this night. Let’s meet up in the astral world somewhere and just laugh, or daydream together of all or children and children everywhere not needing our rescue, only our care. I love you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I felt like death warmed over when I woke up. I hate that feeling. It can absolutely affect me for an entire day.

      Delete
    2. Also- yes- let's meet up in the dreamoverse and hold hands!

      Delete
  8. The second shot of the wild thang with the roses is stunning! What a treat! As well as Maurice looking docile on comfy clothing. Sweet little pussy cat...
    37 Paddington has a good idea....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could choose who and where to meet our dream friends? Sigh.

      Delete
  9. That's a heck of a dream to be having over and over, no wonder it wears you out. I wish I could magic that away from you.
    The tung blossom carpet is beautiful and the wild azalea too. Maurice looks very peaceful sleeping on your overalls. Lola sleeps on my pyjamas if I leave them on the bed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish you could magic away from me too, sweet River!
      Wouldn't that tung blossom carpet be a wonderful place to have a tea party? Or, something...
      Lola probably loves the way you smell.

      Delete
  10. I love wisteria. It’s planted on iron trellises on some of our plazas in town. Aaah. Sorry about the dreams. I’ve been there often. Wish I could step into one for you and turn it all on its head.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Mitchell! That is so sweet. I wish I could do the same for you. We could go walk in the plazas with the wisteria blooming around us.

      Delete
  11. I have been having what I consider to be " anxiety" dreams lately, though I can't remember them in the details that you do...just snippets when I wake up! (They often include losing my dog, or not being able to make my phone
    do what it should....phone someone )
    Kicking bamboo sounds like a weird sort of sport !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phones are impossible to operate in dreams. I always seem to have some piece of crap phone in my purse that's never charged up and I get so mad that I don't have an iPhone. It's horrible.
      Kicking bamboo is a weird sort of sport to be honest.

      Delete
  12. I have the same kinds of nightmares as you apparently. Always absolute chaos, with demands being made on me all over the place AND trying desperately to keep a baby safe. Weird isn't it. They don't happen often but are really nasty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it the strangest thing? We both have obviously had a great deal of stress in our lives surrounding keeping a family together and safe.

      Delete
  13. So many lovely flowers to see! That would make for a lovely, calming walk and I am glad it helped you, Mary.
    Sweet dreams tonight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My dreams last night were unremarkable and so hurray!

      Delete
  14. that native azalea is gorgeous. I should look that up and see if I can find one. I wish I had someplace pretty to walk.

    I had a weird dream too. There was a small group of us, all women, in my house and I was walking around naked. we were all going to go to a beach or bay or something and I said I guess I should put some clothes on and one of the women told me I should put some underpants on at least. there was more to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! Check your local nurseries or online. I know you'd love one, Ellen.
      Your dream sounds quite stressful. I often dream that I am at least partly naked and my initial thought is, "So what?" but then I begin to freak out about it. Now what does THAT mean?

      Delete
  15. Your beautiful garden and flowering trees give you great pleasure. You have created a fantastic landscape that keeps on giving. Your dream sounds terrible. We all know, no child should have to experience what you describe. Very sad. I also like what 37 Paddington says. It helps to shift thinking and sooth a difficult/sad dream state.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My yard and garden do give me great pleasure. My plants and trees are almost like children to me. They make me happy when they are happy and growing and blooming and fruiting.
      I am sometimes quite aware in my dreams that I am dreaming and yet, I cannot seem to either wake up or change the course of the storyline. Arggh.

      Delete
  16. Ms Moon, that pic of Maurice is a great shot. Orange cats are the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And the craziest in my experience although white cats surely can give them a run for their many when it comes to crazy.

      Delete
  17. That's a terrific picture of Maurice! I can't wait to see what the magnolia flower looks like. I am not familiar with Ashe magnolias. (Or wasn't until I started reading your blog!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve- I didn't know about them either until probably about eight years ago! I've never seen one in the wild that I know of.

      Delete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.