Posted on 05/01/2025 6:15:12 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Count me in on the garden clothes, which are really daily house clothes too as soon as thigs warm up and I get to working outside. I have a couple of pairs of old knit pants, baggy and comfortable and they have lasted for a couple of decades. If I do but new tshirts they are kept separate for leaving the house. We used to tease my Dad, long gone 1995. He was an incredibe gardener. He had a pair of old old old paisley pineapple colored pants stained permanently that he always had on in the summer. They were horrid but I remember them with a smile.
I can almost picture your Dad’s pants!
I had a sweet encounter at a garden center yesterday. I was looking over some beautiful dahlias when I heard a woman who sounded just like my mom. I turned to see one of the workers helping an elderly lady. They were chatting away, just like my Mama used to do. It was a nice moment for me. Mom passed in 2017. She’s the one who had the first passion for flower gardening. Miss her!
I miss my parents every day. Mom passed in 2007. I have comfort knowing I will see them again. And that I got the best from both of them. My nature is what I learned from them.
I actually have a small photo of him in those pants that I haven’t seen in a couple of decades. I still have 3 bins of photos that are not digital. Did a quick search as we are headed out soon. This link shows a pair that was pretty close. Dad’s were more yellowish and of course dirtier even though they had been washed a million times.
https://pertedego.com/products/purple-paisley-formal-pants
I’m sure he found them at a second hand store.
I miss my Dad mostly when I’m eating a fine meal, or when I hear someone playing piano. He gave me my cooking tendencies. Mom made almost every meal growing up, but in his later years, Dad started watching cooking shows, like Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse, and often tried to do what they were demonstrating. Oh, and Dad loved to take camping trips in that station wagon, so he gave me a love for this country’s natural beauty.
I owe a lot to my parents.
I have bins of photos, too, not yet digital either.
Those paisley pants! He probably figured stains would never show, and I’m sure he was right. How can you mess those pants up? They’re already messed up! ;)
He didn’t care about the stains or how they looked. He cleaned all his fish in them too, backyard Chicago, neighbors. He didn’t buy anything new except food. So a second hand store was likely as it ws pre garage sale era. Probably a gift to some Dad from his hippie son and the Dad got rid of them. Yeah that sounds about right. Gotta run.
So far he’s liking the Fajitas that he orders at MY favorite Mexican restaurant, ‘Fiesta Cancun.’ (And I’ve been to Cancun, MX.) He tried the shrimp fajitas last time we were there, so he’s getting adventurous!
He will eat a Taco Salad, but he thinks Tacos themselves are too messy - which is part of the fun! THIS - from a guy who looks like ‘Pig-Pen’ from ‘Peanuts’ at any given time. ;)
Making progress, I see......
I usually start my own lettuces, and I did this season, but I bought a 6 pack at Menard’s of Red Romaine for that reason - there must be a dozen plants in there! Score! :)
I really miss my Dad, but I’m going to be a big puddle of mush for a long while when my Mom passes. :(
She grew up on a farm, and hated every minute of it. She wanted to be a City Girl and as soon as she could escape, she did!
Now, she loves nothing more than hanging out at our farm, and she’ll help with ANY task at hand. I’m glad I can give that to her and I’m glad she’s such a great help to me when I most need it! :)
She stays with me a lot when Beau is up at our cabin, hunting. She keeps me motivated, LOL! This season’s ‘project’ is our Laundry Room/Pantry. We are FINALLY going to get that room painted (some of it is done) and we’re taking down the sliding doors that always fall OUT of the upper cabinets when you least expect it, and replacing them with pretty fabric on Cafe rods. I can’t wait to get started; I’m assembling all the needed pieces right now. :)
Looks good....he's got good taste.
Moms are special! It’ll take a while when it’s time.
My neighbor protected his pomegranate crop with organza bags, including a net over the entire tree - we have voracious squirrels here. Squirrels tore through the tree covering and ripped apart each organza bag! He got no pomegranates. I gave him a few of mine - I think my dogs keep the squirrels out of our yard.
As for mulberries, there was a large tree mulberry tree growing outside of my daughter’s school that spilled out onto the sidewalk and road - I managed to grab a few that were over my car. They were absolutely delicious. The variety I see around here is the “Indian Mulberry” - which grows large and provides a lot of shade in our hot climate.
I was asked when we moved in NOT to plant a jacaranda by my neighbors - the purple flowers in the spring stain the sidewalks - and cars too. I honored their wishes, although my nextdoor neighbor planted one that is now huge - that tree shades my home and his during our searing summer so I am grateful for it. It also produces a lot of debris that covers my driveway and median. I blow it out once a week into the street before the sweeper comes by. Worth the cooling from that tree.
Thanks for the info! I had no idea there was a mulberry farm in So Cal.
Zinnia, not Dahlia!!! (That’s what I get for posting late after a really long day w/ no breaks and a majors change of plans half-way through!)
Right - I had experience with mint @ my Mom’s, and from what I’ve read, I assume that if I get this catnip going, it will be similarly aggressive. In this case there will be a little mowing space between the catnip and the garden areas. Well, actually, on one side the catnip could “spread” into the woods, but I’m not too concerned about that, other than if it went too far, it might pull the cats away from the “target” area. Very little grows in that dense shade under the (mostly hickory) woods, though. If the catnip took over an area of wild blackberry nearer the road, where things have opened up a bit due to a couple big old trees coming down on their own, and walnut trees being removed by myself (too close to the garden), that’s probably ok as there’s still a mowable strip between that and the more vulnerable garden area. (The one closer to the woods.)
“Swacked” - hmmm, I hope the cats don’t eat TOO much of the stuff!
Nice and kind of funny. My mom was a city girl and did not like the country at all although she would come up and visit. Dad grew up in the city and always yearned for the country. Glad you get to share all this with your mom. Savor it.
Mom. I heard that there is news about someone in your old neighborhood! (The entire south side?) Hope its good!
Pick your own mulberries. Well, perhaps having a place that grows and sells mulberries you can try different types and see which would be best for you? Its the only mulberry farm I am aware of!
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