So what do you do with a bare patch of backyard? Why, put a tree on it!
Donna wanted something for the front yard, which is admittedly rather plain and neglected. We spend most of our time in the back part of the house where the bay windows look out over an increasingly eclectic yard. (Donna keeps saying we need to simplify, get it more low maintenance, but…)
So we bought a Japanese Maple.
We both love Japanese Maples. We bought one shortly after moving into the house and it thrives to this day, but what we wanted was a red one and that first one, after an initial showing of red leaves, turned a lovely green and stayed that way. So we’d always planned on getting another and trying again.
Donna found it, of course, and after some negotiation, we brought it home. You see it here, newly arrived, next to a piece of scultpure I will now have to move. (We were going to move it anyway, but this has just hastened the day.)
Now, I do not enjoy yard work. It was sort of understood when we bought the house that I wasn’t going to be real big on it, and we agreed to a division of labor. It’s worked out pretty well. I do enjoy the results of good lawn care and the kind of aesthetic experimentation Donna likes to get into. Of course, there’s been overlap, but mostly the yard is her creation.
Usually, the hard part involving me is in deciding where to put what. This time, it was just obvious.
It’s a beautiful tree. We “swiped” some concrete edging from next door (long story, it’s all cool) and after an afternoon’s work we have a new member of the forest in our yard.
Now, of course this wasn’t the end of it. Oh, no. Donna’s last job resulted in considerable neglect of the actual lawn, half of which had become overrun with weeds. So in order to make the new tree more at home, we have proceeded to put down new sod—fescue, to be precise. And that got a little muddier.
Obviously, she’s having a good time.
I think she does great work.
This brief interlude of domestic engineering was brought to you by my fascination with a woman I’ve been in love with for over three decades and who I can’t say enough good things about. I don’t get to brag about her very much…at least, it feels that way to me. So I thought I’d share this.
Now back to our regularly scheduled diatribes. Later.
