August 30, 2008. Western Head, N.S. The Garden of Mary.

Living along the shore is a wonderful thing. Living near the shore and walking through the woods to my friends house is a hugh added bonus. But the part that really takes the prize is walking through the woods and coming upon Mary's garden. There are blossoms everywhere and in many different colors. No grass in sight, just bloom after bloom of colorful plants. Every part of the summer plants are in bloom and they are perennials, so they will be there again next year. These plants came from every part of the woods and for the most part are wildflowers. Several stone walks have been made around the place, the stones dug up when she planted the wildflowers. Building the garden was labor intensive, but not any more, because the whole place is full of plantings with blooms. Her window boxes are full too and cascade over the side with brightly colored blossoms. The whole place is wonderful, and I love to break through the woods on the path to see all these colors, in my friends garden, and know that she is making us a cup of tea, which we will enjoy outside, enjoying the garden.

Now Mary is a good gardener. She did the whole garden herself. But she can do almost anything. Yesterday she was re-painting her Adirondack chairs, two chairs at a time. The custom here is to paint the chairs different gaily painted colors, so she has ten chairs so she will finish two every day. Now we have been here the same number of years, but we are just allowing the chairs to look weathered and faded, but Mary's chairs will look bright and new. Her reason is that our chairs are down by the water, while hers are on their deck, where they can be seen every day. I bought her a puzzle last year. The man I bought it from told me that no one he knows has ever been able to solve the puzzle. It took Mary three days to master it. Last year she bought a sail boat, or properly, they bought a sailboat. Every afternoon, when the weather is fine, Clif and Mary head out in her sailboat and sail around to their hearts content. So you see that Mary is a person of many parts. And she is a good friend too.