Forget Me Not, Dear Garden Putter

I selected this photo of my False Forget Me Nots, which finished blooming a few weeks ago, as an homage to negligence. I have lapsed in my care and upkeep of Garden Putter. If one is to blog, one must be consistent and maintain said blog, just as one maintains a garden. But, alas, there comes a time when we must admit that it simply isn't possible to do it all.

I like to blog in the early morning hours when I can't sleep. I wake up too early and I drink coffee and I sit and ponder the day. I've read the paper, I've Googled a few phrases and then an idea comes to me and I write. I love the blog for its ease in the making and  practice of churning a mental flow of ideas into sentences, and if luck will have it, a narrative. But with the hoisting, lifting, bending, kneeling, twisting and digging that it takes to launch a garden in the spring, sweet sleep keeps me glued to the sheets every morning. The alarm sounds and I drag my aching body up and have only time enough to dress and get to work.

On this Memorial Day Monday, I lingered long and lazy, luxuriating in the hot sunshine streaming in on my pillow. I don't miss haunting the dark morning hours. It's good to sleep in.

But today, when I finally got up, I had to race to the garden, even before I'd had my coffee, carrying water can after water can to dowse my potted plants. It will be the first hot day of our growing season, a high in the 90s. The air conditioning is on. The dog is splayed out on the wood floor, panting. I think I'll need to spray the vegetable garden with the hose later this morning to shield it against the coming heat. It's now officially summer and the garden--potatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, tomatoes, basil, marjoram, chamomile--is planted and ready for the hot, sunny growing season ahead. I hope to continue sleeping soundly in each morning, but I'm sure I'll be back to rising before the sun, and sputtering here on Putter. The Putterer