Hundreds of Plants, Thousands of Flowers, Millions of Creatures

 

 Butterfly Weeds have long-lasting orange flowers.

Sassy and I always enjoy the front yard in the afternoon. The shade favors our side, and the driveway serves as a good place for combing the dog, guarding the street, and trimming the grassy weeds.

Most of the plants are packed up and growing together by this time. The ones I thought were weak begin to shoulder the others aside. Various blooming cycles repeat - wild strawberry, mints, and many more. Millions of creatures handle several jobs. The omnipresent wild strawberries feed the birds, and extra foliage add to the soil, just as their tiny roots do.

One minute a plant is mostly growing fruit, then it is dropping leaves to replenish the soil. The birds love berries and distribute them with alacrity. 

I stand inches from the Joe Pye Weed blooms so I can watch the tiniest flower flies and butterflies do their work. 

Sitting on the driveway is the best way to avoid chiggers and other lasting surprises. Stings are almost completely absent and only come from the red wasps that rarely attack but seldom hurt. 

Sassy comes over for petting and finger-combing on the driveway. She yelps about brushes but loves having that undercoat shedding gone. One her lovey battery is replenished; she walks over for a better view of her cul-de-sac properties. 

Someone Noticed This Screen Grab

Christina and I were enjoying our time together, late last summer. The symptoms were obvious but managed well with medicine. When I went to the chapel - across the hall, the spare room in our rented house - I said, "Do not walk over. I am afraid of you will fall."

Christina nodded solemnly and said she would stay there. She was especially prone to falling. I shut her door and the chapel door to keep the broadcast sounds from clashing. Everything was all set.  A bit later, I was seated when the chapel door opened, Christina grinning from ear to ear. My stomach was doing cartwheels and round offs, and she enjoyed my shock.

At the hospice, not long after, she said, "I LOVE you Maria!" to her sister. I phoned Andrea's parents and gave Chris the phone. Andrea said, " I LOVE YOU! Grammie Chris!" and my wife grinned just as wide as at the chapel. Christina was not talking anymore, but she fell asleep that night with that same enormous smile. Andrea's parents drove from California to let Christina enjoy time with them, Andrea especially. 

 Sassy thought the ice cream treat was for her. Andrea's father was impressed with the freezer full of Schwan ice cream, Easter 2021

The time has passed quickly, as many have mentioned on Facebook. I am thankful to God for our life together, 55 years from the first day of freshman English class at Augustana, when I told my brother I met a redhead I wanted to date and maybe marry. That got enormous laughs from everyone years later, so when she bragged to store employees that we were married "over 50 years," I said, "Please stop complaining in public." 

No matter how evil the apostates were, Christina never wavered in her faith in Jesus Christ. Doubtless the great and important (in their minds) were especially peeved that she spent so much time and energy with the sick and disabled. They forgot the overturned Thrivent table in the Temple (Surfer Dude New Testament) and - "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matthew 25