hensandchicks

hensandchicks, originally uploaded by nillakitty.

My Grandmother had these in a small garden beside her house. The larger gardens were filled with iris and roses and tiger lilies and all kinds of flowers for cutting.
The hens and chicks fascinated me and as the chick babies grew out from the sides of the hen, I would break them off and put them a few inches away to become big hens themselves one day.
I was always digging in the dirt and trying to grow something.
I carried countless pine tree seedlings up from the creek and planted them in the triangle shaped area where 3 roads intersected in front of our house in NC.
Back then my Grandfather was a tile mason and he kept a sand pile there. There was also various piles of rock and slate step stones and then flowers started to grow from my seeds.
One pine tree survived and became 20 feet tall before they finally cut it down.
It was around my 40th birthday and it made me sad. I had felt proud every time I thought of that tree and how I begged it to grow- to live and not die like all the others before it had. Even at the age of ten I knew how important roots were.
If you were to drive by that triangle in the road today you would see a big hedge of forsythia my Dad planted and a big flower bed made with railroad ties and all kinds of flowers that my Dad planted after I grew up. At least that's the way it looked the last time I saw it 6 years ago.
In my mind and heart there will always be iris, sweet william, tiger lilies and a beautiful little norfolk pine.

Comments

[Joan]

Sedums are very cool and so ethereal.
Your pine tree story reminds me of the pine trees my sisters brought home from school in paper cups. My parents allowed them to plant three of them in the back yard, probably thinking they wouldn't make it. They are loblolly pines, they're still there. And they're huge with many prickly pine cones. We still look at them in disbelief and laugh.
Have a happy day, sweet Kim!

[Stacy A]

Missy Kim, You have such a connection to the earth and natures kindness. It is in your art and whispered from your creations. There seems to be an understanding between you and it that makes it seem like everything in the world makes sense, if only for a moment.
Do you ever have the problem of leaving your favorite bloggers, etc. to comment on last, because you know you want to say something special and just right. Then somehow time passes and you still haven't' got it quite right? I think about what to say to you much more than I say it. I will try to be better. Thank you for a daily retreat from reality into a fantastic world of gnomes, talking animals and fairy tales. I treasure it. Love Stacy