Multiconstruct

well what used to be called myrtle’s grave is taking on added significance as i prepare to sprinkle a small amount of my father’s cremated ashes there. he loved that little dog and spoke of her fondly with some of his last words. buzzed on the morphine he told me “i want to marry myrtle. so he’ll largely be buried with my mom in the erie cemetery (yes its true) but a little bit will stay here in columbia where he spent some pleasant years. Gabriel Garcia Marquez says a place doesn’t really become home until you bury your dead there. i want columbia to be home at least a little bit.

when myrtle died last year we buried her deep as you should a good and faithful companion, all things being equal. we planted greek myrtle (six of them on the grave) and they had pretty foliage and little white flowers. it died off over the winter and hadn’t really snapped back. last fall i had added 3 new and a bit more existent daylillies at the head and foot. later i put in some tulips and crocuses on the bird feeder side. nothing is blooming and while not bleak its not exactly much of a pick me up.

sarah and i had gone to menards to return tile and so i picked up everything that was flowering. i got a lobelia hanging basket for the front and moved the windchime to the backyard. i bought some larger perenials and a flat of annuals and really made the memorial area look sharp. annual wise i did violas, snap dragons, pansies, verbana, and a couple of others. I also did a good sized gerbera daisy. Perenials i did a lot of creeping phlox, some bellis, and a couple of candytuft (iberis-sempervirens). it looks sharp. i also have some other stuff in pots now, maybe i’ll get it in the ground in time in the beds along the neighbor’s privacy fence which will be the backdrop for the service. I’ve got some daffodils going on one side and some grape hyacinth on the other. the new stuff adds some flowering now to the beds which have at least greenery going.

overall its earlier then i would like, in a lot of ways but i am glad i decided to have a little bit going all the time rather than having stuff that all hits at once so i at least had something to build from. you don’t get to choose your time on these things.