More Raking

I finished raking half the yard and spread it with pelletized lime yesterday. And, I succeeded in creating a lovely meditation space for myself under the Camillia trees. It is so cozy under there, I left a green resin chair in front of some branches with vine fronds running vertically through them. The spot reminds me of Buddha sitting under The Tree of Life. When I started cutting branches a few years ago to reveal the space under these trees, I thought it would be a really cool space for little kids to play and hide. Little did I know until yesterday, that I was creating this space for the little girl in me.

This stand of mature Camillias is about thirty to forty feet high. They are a combination of single and double-bloom red, single-bloom white, and a varigated single-bloom deep pink. I cut a bouquet of them once a week for the kitchen table and the living room. They were Marilyn's favorite. We bought this property from Marilyn and Fred eight years ago, and passed papers on Fred's eight-fourth or fifth birthday. We brought him a cake to the closing. He teared up. It was very sweet.

When we visited Marilyn and Fred in Assisted Living, and when she was moved to the nursing home, I always brought her a big bouquet of "her" Camillias. They always made her smile and made her day a little brighter. She was very disappointed and unhappy with her body. She told me at our first meeting that she was "as active as you are now. Don't let yourself go here." When we first met, she found it difficult to walk without the support of a cane. The cane became a walker, then a power wheelchair, then she couldn't leave her bed. She was very unhappy, so when she finally "passed" at about eight-eight or nine years old, I was happy she no longer suffered. And, when I get lazy about exercising, I hear her words loud and clear in my head. "Don't go there". OK, Marilyn. Thanks.

I get a rest day from hard labor today too because it is raining. The fog is rolling in on the lake and the light has turned an eery light gray. The birds don't care about rain though. We've counted three Cardinal pairs, numerous chicadees, sparrows and black birds. They're queuing up in the Dogwood tree to get their turn on the feeder, and have now happily found the suet feeder in the same tree. The concrete angel-sculpted birdbath sits at the pink Dogwood's base.

Larry and I were just commenting that we haven't seen any Blue Jays for a long time, and none this year. Not a half hour later, Larry spied one on the feeder and I saw its mate on the ground pecking happily under it. Word travels fast in the aviary world.

Well, while Larry tries to get our new printer talking to this laptop, I'll be off to the laundromat. I can't wait until we can have a washer and dryer here at The Lakehouse.

Raking the Pinestraw

It has been very wet here in "the Midlands" of South Carolina. Over a week ago, we got a surprise gift of five inches of snow! Unheard of here. The last time this state received a dump of snow like that (Columbia received about nine inches) was in 1973. We are only just beginning to stop sliding on the wettest sections of our clay and dirt road.

Because we have been busy over the last year building our dream house in RI (the northern half of our new "Snowbird" lifestyle), we had no time or energy to keep up with "The Lakehouse" property. Our yard consists of many huge Lob-lolly and Long-leaf pine trees; Magnolia and Holly trees (in NE, Holly are mostly shrubs), red, pink and white Camillia trees; every color of Azalea, and one huge Oak-leaf Hydrangea. Spring is my favorite season, and lucky for me, I get an extended season by living in both South Carolina and New England.

But in the eight years we've owned this place, the lovely centipede grass is mostly dead and gone, replaced by sandy dirt that was lovingly spread over years (one wheelbarrow at a time) by Marilyn, the late previous owner who created this blooming paradise we now enjoy. A carpet of pinestraw (called pine needles in NE)has covered the lawn and killed much of it over time. We tried hiring men to come and rake it clear several times a year, but finances have changed and we can no longer afford to hire anyone to help with this chore. It wasn't raked enough to keep the grass from dying anyway.

So, now I get another "free gym" experience in the yard raking the wet pinestraw off what living grass remains. It's hard work, but my shoulders and upper arms are slowly getting used to it. My hips don't feel as stiff at night, but my knees are bothering me a little. This time, I have decided to try and make this two-acre area as low-maintenance as possible. I am breaking the chore up into sections; raking paths around the trees, and leaving grass in the paths only. I will pick up pinestraw piles that could kill the pretty ivy plants along the periphery, but it will become the mulch I will not now have to buy before the summer heat and possible drought hits. It is a nice look, and I am happy with the result.

I began by clearing debris from around the entire house and pulling vines out of trees and shrubs. Wisteria vines are the most pervasive around here, and briars. I cut branches away from my head and shoulders, so walking the paths is easy and stress free. Once the weather gets warmer, spiders will begin making webs between the trees along the paths. The further away the branches are, the fewer the webs (or so I hope). Those little critters can build pretty long web connections. Some are very impressive. In the heat of summer, I carry a stick around with me to swish in front of my face before walking around. Those webs are usually right at face height. Not very pleasant. If I want my family from NE to come visit, I have to make this bug haven as unscary for them as possible. I learned long ago to make peace with the critters of the country. I no longer fear them. It helps...a lot.

It's also important to keep piles away from living areas. Piles become homes for other unwanted critters like snakes, scorpions and snapping turtles. Nothing to be scared of, just to remain aware about. And, clearing the pinestraw makes Fire Ant mounds more visible. They are pretty visible anyway because they can get pretty big and red in this clay, but they still go dormant in cold weather and get covered up by the debri. "Better to be safe than sorry," is always my motto. I was a Girl Scout afterall.

Once I get the grass cleared, I can finally spread that pelletized lime I bought three years ago with a new spreader I never used. Then I can fertilize and spread new grass seed. I love grass and I want it back. My sister-in-law said, "But then you have to mow the lawn." Well, yes, but I like the look and feel of grass over sand and dirt. And, we'll eventually get another riding mower. We bought the old rider off of Fred, the late previous owner and husband of Marilyn (the gardener), but it got wrecked with family helping out by riding it over stumps and large rocks. We have a self-propelled power mower now, and this yard is a lot of work.

We do have an in-ground, lake-fed sprinkler system that Larry fixed. I look forward to warmer nights, so we can prime it and water the lime once I spread it. We'll get it on a timer eventually, so the new grass can get watered while we're up north. We always have a plan. We spend most mornings discussing and creating our plans leasurely over coffee. We're only good for a few hours' work in the afternoon anyway. It gets dark an hour later here than in New England.

The trees and shrubs are budding nicely now. I fertilized the Lady Banks rose that is struggling, but still alive, and the other rose plants I placed next to the garage (or "the shed" as we call it). The shed is a very large metal building, big enough to house a car or a boat. Marilyn used to plant tomatoes next to it in a garden that has become overgrown with weeds. My other sister-in-law planted a lovely Butterfly plant there and we planted a pink Crepe Myrtle tree there too. It also hosts the grave of Fred and Marilyn's Basset Hound, Droopy. He has a concrete marker that we leave alone. We respect the history of what this lovely couple created and add some new touches of our own as we go along to expand that history. It feels right and good to do it, and we feel very blessed.