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Tag Archives: neighbors

Jonas ~ beauty or the beast

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by home, garden, life in Albemarle county, feeding wild birds, home, home ownership, Lifestyle, winter

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Charlottesville, garden, home, Jonas, life, neighbors, Virginia, winter storms

At 10:30 AM last Friday, Jonas made his entry into central Virginia. First the flakes were fine and light. Then for thirty-six hours, snow fell continuously.

When Jonas finally departed, taking the 30 MPH winds with him, I measured 19″ in my backyard. Deeper drifts fill the front yard, so much so my tallest boots vanish in the stuff. Folks in the real snow belt may shrug at this, yet here in central Virginia, this storm broke all weather records.

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this is the view from my back door, over the herb garden.

Since my narrow driveway won’t allow a plow, snow must be moved by hand. With few behemoth snow storms over my fifteen year residency, I never felt it necessary to own a snow removal machine.

So with much optimism, every few hours on Friday, I dressed and shoveled my driveway down to the gravel. By nightfall, everything appeared manageable.

Saturday was another story. The snow continued all day.  I repeatedly shoveled a path around the terrace to the wild bird feeders and heated water bath. The temperatures were in the 20F, not counting the wind chill.

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by Sunday morning this is the view out my backdoor

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a view of the back yard, over the herb beds and terrace this morning

I was grateful that the power remained on throughout this blizzard, as my only alternative with this all-electric house, was to shove food into coolers and hike to a home down the road where there is a generator and wood stove. Once again, with few catastrophic storms, it is not cost effective to install either a generator or stove here.

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front yard cypress trees along the driveway

By Sunday I faced an overwhelming task of snow removal…

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view of the front walk and my new foundation planting completed in November

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following 1.5 hours of shoveling on Sunday, I made it to the deer fence near the mouth of my driveway. This view is looking from the road back up my drive.

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to give readers an idea of what I face at the mouth of my driveway, this is a road view of the snow wall left by VDOT

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this is the view of the highway connecting to my road; clear sailing for those who can get out of their driveways

Presently, VDOT has no idea when or if they will return with plows to make a second pass on my road. I hesitate to dig the wall, as one pass from that equipment will sock me in again with another wall. Quite the dilemma.

In the meantime this storm taught me a lot about my immediate neighbors. There are seven other houses on my road, and this morning all those driveways are open. As of this writing, nary a person offered to help me dig out. This speaks volumes.

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by adding an archival photo of more pleasant days, I end this post knowing that this too shall pass and perhaps there are new roads for me to travel, where I will find kinder, more thoughtful neighbors in a milder climate

How did Jonas affect your home? One thought frequently pops into mind: all things are temporary including this home, garden, life.

Copyright © 2016 by Diane LaSauce All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

in the midst of a very full life

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by home, garden, life in garden, home, life, Lifestyle, photography, sustainable lifestyle

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

beauty, fairy gardens, friends, neighbors, plants, vacation, Virginia

This is a very special blog dedicated to my friend and neighbor Stella

who is six years old.

Since a toddler, Stella showed interest in the outdoors. She accompanies her father into the yard most days to sing, play, giggle, and enjoy. When I have butterfly larvae in my gardens, Stella comes to see. She is always eager to visit and share moments of garden wonder.

Stella sat with me one afternoon last May while we observed the flight of tree swallows—a few days following the death of my beloved Miss Kitty. I could hardly speak, yet Stella’s presence eased my grief and her innocent gesture remains with me to this day.

This spring I noticed that Stella created her own garden, aside the house, on bare dirt. There she plays with her imaginary fairies. She resurrected a statue and other items—yet I had a plan.

On her birthday, I gave Stella a metal butterfly sculpture for her garden. Following permission from her parents, I brought over unused terracotta pots and seeds, added mulch to the patch of dirt, arranged her sculptures, then awaited her return from school.

Together Stella and I planted flower seeds in the pots and I showed her how to care for them using a watering can. I truly thought Stella was ready for a real garden of her own, where she could nurture tiny seeds and produce colorful flowers.

This is the Stella’s garden today

The wood path was later added by Stella,

as it leads to the blue roof of the fairy house.

This is Stella’s garden sculpture

she says is too pretty to go into her garden

so she keeps it in her room.

Slide your mouse over images for further captions.

Copyright © 2012 by Diane LaSauce All Rights Reserved

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Essay Titles

  • “this too shall pass”
  • there is no place like home…
  • the perfect Tiny House
  • Miracles everywhere
  • And so it goes…
  • Transform, transition, resilience
  • An Artist’s Way
  • Sunday’s monster project
  • Meanwhile
  • how fragile we are
  • what I learned about Keto
  • small steps
  • do no harm…
  • will this convince you?
  • Plastics…a soapbox tale
  • Let’s clean up our act
  • 2020…are we ready?
  • All I want for Christmas
  • Thanksgiving…remembering love
  • At last
  • Keto “potatoes”
  • When critters call
  • Keto bread revisited
  • My report on Keto
  • for the love of rock, II
  • give a gardener a cool summer day…
  • Oh July, July
  • Kale, the ultimate chip
  • gone Keto
  • she’s baaaack!
  • Perhaps missed
  • for the love of rock
  • the anatomy of a popover
  • the garden visitor
  • what blooms this week
  • porch envy
  • Summer in Virginia
  • timing is everything
  • pies and peonies
  • words cross centuries
  • zen and now
  • April brings flowers and…chores!
  • Kudos, followers
  • this week’s reading challenge…
  • February dreaming…
  • kitty love
  • the dormant season
  • Soothing, quick comfort food for winter days
  • ahh, November
  • August garden

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