Dreaming of Spring and Summer

It's raining as I write this. I meant to post this picture last summer, but never got around to it. It's of my porch garden, which was so lush and beautiful this summer. We had vines and flowers everywhere. It could have been in Better Homes and Gardens on a good day ("good day" meaning I finally got out there and cleaned up the toys and junk and swept, and perhaps killed some of the many black widows that are secretly mounting an army so that they can take us by surprise one day.)

Last night I was surveying the damage the recent freeze did to my plants. It's not looking pretty, people. I'm hoping some are only playing dead. Can plants do that? Do they perhaps go into self-induced comas to avoid further damage from the nights upon nights of frost? If not, I will be pretty devastated. Come Spring, one will be able to find me sitting next to the Tea Roses, rubbing a crispy leaf and trying to coax it out of it's slumber. Then come Summer, one will be able to find me sitting next to the Geraniums, rubbing another cripsy leaf and trying to coax it out of it's slumber. Then fall will come and one will be able to find me sitting next to the Bougainvillea rubbing a black, crispy leaf and trying to coax it out of its slumber.

Then mom will come over and say, "I'm sorry, dear....they are not coming back." Then she will pull the plugs and they will all become one sad pile of dirt in the trash can. More money gone down tubes in hopes of a glorious garden. This is going to suck.

But at least I have my pictures...and the memories....

-Britten