New Growth

From the beginning of our year here in Belfast, one of our neighbors kindly brought our rubbish bin back to our back yard every Monday morning without even being asked.  At first, we weren't sure how to feel - we really appreciated it, but we were a little embarrassed, like a mixture of... maybe we should be doing this ourselves or something...is he just doing this to be nice...is he trying to give us a not-so-suBtle (capital B intended) hint...? ? ?  Well, a few months ago, I finally got the courage to make them cookies - I know that sounds odd - courage to make cookies... but, I was embarrassed that we hadn't said thank you more formally sooner.  We would only see them occasionally in passing, and someone else had told us that he was hearing impaired, so we weren't sure how well he could hear us when we said "thank you," anyway, or if he could hear us when we said hello on the sidewalk, etc.

Well, today I learned my lesson.

Earlier this afternoon, I had tried to tell him that I loved his garden, that his beautiful flowers inspired me to plant my own small pots, and I tried to thank him for letting me use his trowel.  He kind of stuttered and grunted and managed a few words back.  Then, he pointed to our garden, and said, "weeds, weeds."  I said, "yes, I'm going to pull those up at some point, but do you have a weed killer you'd recommend?"  After that, our conversation unravelled, so I tried to let it go as I hurried to work, but later this afternoon, I got a text.

It was from Christina - she said, "Zoe, what is our neighbor doing in our yard?"  

I said, "he's probably weeding, but I'll feel awful if he felt obligated to do so, or if he thought I was asking him to do that."  When I got home, our front garden was completely weed-free, and he had even tilled the soil in some places.  This evening, as I was watching Modern Family, I noticed our neighbor in our garden again.  I ran outside, and I said, "hi" (maybe that's dumb, but it was the first thing I could think of - I didn't want him to think I was cross - he was, after all, the inspiration for the garden in the first place...).  He told me that as the weather gets hotter and dryer, the flowers need more water (I knew this, but I said, "okay..."), and he proceeded to douse them as I imagine an evangelical preacher would baptize an adult in a baby pool - joyfully pouring on the water so that they feel drenched in the love of every drop.  

Then, I asked if I could speak with his wife, Donna.  When she came outside, I asked her how well Ian could hear me, and told her that I wanted to make sure that he didn't feel obligated to do our gardening.  She said that he could hear me just fine, but that he'd had a stroke and major brain surgery, so the words didn't always come to him quickly, and his mind worked a little slower than it used to.  She said that he loves to garden, that he wouldn't do it if he didn't want to, and that he'd done it for all the YAVs in the past.  Wow.  Then, Ian went inside and came back out with a bamboo stick and some rubber bands to try to prop up our Lupin, and I just stood there and said "thank you," struck simultaneously by Ian's green thumb and generous heart.  

The top photo: my shadow, white Geranium, purple-blue Delphinium, chandelier-colored Lupin

Bottom photo: baby plants and a mystery orange / ochre flowering plant...

Thanks for reading,

Z