A Room of One's Own

First, there were the days of garden dreaming. Looking out the window that was really too high to see anything when one was sitting down, as one tends to be in the house. There was a new baby to be nourished, cuddled and hopefully put to bed occasionally, hardwood to be installed, walls to be painted, baseboards to be put in place and upgrades to hideous light fixtures to consider. Of course, there was the unpacking to be tackled, but that could wait. Back to the dreaming. And back to the garden. For that was really where one imagined being with chortling baby.

[window too high that wanted to be a door]

The garden needed a fence, it needed earth - yes, the previous owners has filled the back garden with gravel - and it needed plants - galore. So we started planning. We put in a fence, we took out gravel, we brought in good earth. We ripped dead stuff out. And then we had a place to play and a place to plant. But something was still missing. There was no place to sit and just be in the garden, and we still couldn't see out into the garden when we sat in the house. Back to the drawing board for Phase II.

We decided we wanted a cobblestone patio with a small cedar deck, large enough for the BBQ and a small table and chairs set, to become "one" with the garden. So, the landscapers came, and ripped out earth and sod, reshaped some of the beds we had created

and planted two beautiful trees (of several more to come), a Ulmus americana 'Brandon' (Brandon Elm) and a Prunus maackii 'Jeffree' (Goldrush Amur Cherry). I *love* the bark on this one, it is a real four season beauty.

[bronze satin bark of Goldrush Amur Cherry]

The stone patio went in and we had one day to enjoy it before it snowed. The cedar deck had to wait until the last little warm spell arrived and the carpenters went madly at it to finish it off. And then it snowed again.

But there is now a door. So I can look out to the winter garden and begin the dreaming time again. Sitting in our home these Christmas holidays will be a little brighter this year as we wait for the garden to awaken. And then, Phase III, the planting time will begin. The thrilling time, I should call it. :)

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha Norman

I hope you are all enjoying Mother Nature's quiet time to dream new beauty into your own verdant corner of the earth.