Buy Her Some Real Rock!

A friend recently wrote a status detailing the list of wonderful things she did on Mother's day.  Part of it involved fancy food and other lovely things.  Girly kind of things.  Then she remembered to include that she ended her day with yard work and a trip to Home Depot for flowers and paint.

And this, my friends, is how I like to spend my Mother's day:

 By sweating through it, followed by a relaxing walk through the air conditioned aisles of Home Depot.

You see, Mother's day always falls on a Sunday, Richard's regular work day.  The weather is usually warm and sunny.   And since I love to garden, it's the perfect time for planting vegetables and mowing, or taking a long run.

This Mother's day I put on my running gear and headed out with Elliot on his bike and Ozzie at my side.  Running with Ozzie is always an adventure because he adores sniffing every rock and tree.  I have to command him to heel or the run turns into an awkward back and forth dance.  On this particular run, I forgot to grab a plastic bag in case he could not resist adding fertilizer to the already overly fertilized perfect green lawns in the newly constructed neighborhood.  Which is exactly what he did.

Elliot and I are studying civics and social responsibility.  There was no way I could let that fertilizer lie.

So we ran/biked/sniffed our way home.  I grabbed a few bags and ran back to the site, picked up the deposit and ran back home, like a kid running for the school bus with her paper bag lunch.

Sweat poured in abundance on the long hill toward home.  After a tremendous dousing rainfall the previous day, this morning was heavy with humidity.  While I ran with my paper "lunch sack", I started fantasizing about our pool. Then I remembered something that Deepak Chopra said during a guided meditation...he suggested that I become more aware of how big, hard impossible things will start to happen effortlessly.

Richard had stored our "summer escapes" pool in the attic of the garage.  Having never lifted it myself, I imagined that it weighed too much for me to get it down safely.  But thinking of the meditation, I went up to the attic (where I always bruise my head on the low beams...this day being no exception), I tried to lift the pool.

I prepared to heave my whole body into the effort.

It was bulky and awkward, but as light as a large tarp!  As I maneuvered myself into a position on the ladder, I asked Elliot to hand it to me.  When I got hung up on the descent, Elliot said,

"Drop it Mom!  The pool is not worth your life!"

I told him not to worry. Everything would be okay.  And suddenly the pool was unstuck and I was able to make it down without falling or dropping the "summer escape".

Then came the challenge of setting it up on the level space that Richard had worked so hard to perfect two years ago.  I'm not sure that space stayed perfectly level...I probably needed to scrape a layer here or there, but being determined, I skipped that step and went on with the task.

After hours of sweat and a few visits at the fence from my adorable, four year old blond and curly haired neighbor asking "Jenny, what are you DOING????".......

I had a half filled pool.  While the pool filled I also managed to turn over the hard clay earth around the perimeter of the deck to plant my sweet potato plants and tomatoes.  It was humid and backbreaking work.  Just the way I like it.

After investigating the reason why the pool seemed to be filling so slowly, I learned that an O ring on the filter was broken, so water was gushing in a steady fountain out of the top of the filter.

Just as Richard walked in the door, I kissed him hello and rushed out the door to Home Depot to replace the O ring.

While there, I noticed other Moms wearing colorful dresses and sandals dragging their families in for supplies.  A stone display at the entrance said "This Mother's Day, Buy Her Some REAL Rock!"

This would be my kind of Mom!  The kind to whom you could give a real rock and she would be thrilled at your thoughtfulness and your deep understanding of her true nature.

It is still holding water the next day!  I have one small leak near an intake hose, which Richard says he can fix.

Last week, Elliot and I hauled rocks and dug a new pond.  The birds have been loving it!

This is Elliot's garden.  We built this together shortly after we dug the new pond.  His cucumbers are already sprouting!

Richard and Elliot have been building this new fort, directly under the tree house.  On Christmas Eve, a man who works at Home Depot gave Richard the side wall for free.  It was destined for the dumpster, having been used as a display.  The spirit of Santa Claus lives!

This is our garden, hand turned.  This year we will grow the three sisters here...corn, pole beans and squash.