All through this last week, FaceBook has been taunting me with "seven years ago" - or whatever - pictures, many of them showing this garden and, above all, the magnolia tree in full, magnificent bloom. I have been irrationally excited about the prospect of seeing the tree - sadly anxious that it could very well be for the last time - thinking of it as a symbol of this garden's beauty.
It looks to be weeks off flowering. It's miserably cold and damp here - and at some point, the central heating boiler in the house went off (I guess that will be good for fuel bills?), and so it's chilled all the way through - despite the heat now being on; despite my deployment of electric fans. The house itself - I'd underestimated how tidy and sparse I'd left it, so although it's good to be back in some ways, it quite definitely doesn't look like "home" (although it sounds like home - the doors still squeak in the same ways. But there's still a way to go - back to the tidying and clearing tomorrow ...
Since there's not a green leaf to be seen in the tundra that's MN, we SO appreciate this beautiful picture! It must be hard to be back ... We are thinking of you! Hope the tidying goes smoothly!
ReplyDeleteIt IS hard - WG, please tell your people I appreciate their thoughts ... xxx
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