I know the posts are still a little sparse but I’ve been pretty busy with my new job. I did get a much-needed 3 day weekend after working a 50 hour week a while back and Joy and I spent part of one day at her parents’ place. We explored the woods around the house, collecting rocks for our flower garden… I also collected about two dozen mosquito bites but at least I am not as allergic to the ones here, it seems. I saw three lizards, a praying mantis, a cicada, and lots of other assorted bugs and spiders (some of which I briefly caught for a closer look), smelled wildflowers, gorged on wild blackberries and blueberries, and came home covered in dirt and berry-bush scratches. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a day

We’re loving Hendersonville and enjoying our new home but in some ways it’s also been a sad time… like the day we unpacked all of our little wooden boxes that had travelled with us and put them up on a shelf… Fox, Nipsy, Pete, Mojo, and Lilly, I cried again for all the ones who could not be here with us. In particular, Lilly… we barely had time to grieve for her before we were off and moving cross country…It’s hard to explain, but we miss her now more than we did in Texas…she had been doing poorly for so long, been a shadow of her former self for years. It’s harder now, here — back in the place where I can remember her sharp and strong and her vibrant (if obnoxious) self. I don’t know if that makes sense.

We’re working on a small garden with a plant for each of them, something that represents their spirit. Tiger lillies for Lilly… maybe daisies for Nipsy… Pete maybe just a few well-placed rocks (he was a consumate rockhound) and for Mojo I agonized over trying to decide between basil and some of that giant pampas grass. I’ve always loved that stuff and wanted some, and I am sure he would have liked it… but he did sure like to eat the basil out of our herb garden at the first house, too. I compromised by planting both basil, which Joy’s sister Kitty had brought us, and some purple fountain grass. We had some mini daisies that were to be Nipsy’s plant but they didn’t make it, so we’ve planted something I forget the name of that has little periwinkle colored flowers and are keeping an eye out for some more daisies. I think it is too late in the year to find a Tiger Lilly. We’re still trying to come up with something suitable for each of the others… pics of the garden will come soon.