I know, we're in zone 7 and most of them won't survive our (mostly) mild winters. That's what planters are for, and it looks as though I'll be using a lot of them. Okay by me, I'll find (make) room for them indoors in the winter time. Between the garage, house, guest apartment and laundry I can make do. I want the huge, lush flowers and plants that I remember from St. Kitts, New Orleans, Galveston, Las Vegas and Southern California. I want the colors and the exotic smells that say Paradise. I want lemon, lime and fig trees that I can pick fruit from. My Amazon wish list has almost 200 kinds of plants and seeds. That's before even looking at bulbs.
Finding things like that while I still have a little sight is important to me. To make things as beautiful as I can while I can. I would like to start collecting orchids too, they are so lovely, and each so different from the run of the mill plants. I have bags full of hyacinth bulbs that I want to plant indoors, staggering the planting dates so that there are always a couple of them blooming and smelling fabulous. Just fun, and beautiful as well. If they grow well I plan to do that with other bulb plants too.
My world has gotten so much smaller since losing sight. I live in a lovely little home with my Darling Husband and our pets, a cat and a dog. We have an incredible back yard that we devote countless hours to. It's the kind that really surprises people when they see it, definitely not the type that you find in the middle of a large city. One really neat thing is the way it winds around and there is no place where all of it can be seen at one time so there are a lot of surprises as you walk around. There pis a rose garden, 2 patios, a wooded area with ivy growing underneath that appears to be part of a forest, a wall of honeysuckle that blooms almost continuously year round, walls of ivy, and so very much more. I love spending time in it, just puttering among the plants, keeping track of what does well in each location as well as what needs changing and adjusting. Each year it improves more and more.
We love it here, it's comfortable, we have everything we need, including spaces of our own. Having a room of my own just for hobbies, exercise, curling up with a cup of tea is great. I dreamt of having my own space for so long, decades where the house was full of children and space was tight, where I might have a kitchen corner if I was lucky.
We're trying to be able to go places more often. Art shows and the Renaissance Fairs are places we do make special effort to go to. This weekend I plan to attend An Affair Of The Heart at the fairgrounds. I've wanted to go for years and something managed to interrupt my plans each and every time. Well, this time I'm going. I may not see much, but I'll see all that I can of it.
So, this is most of my world. The place where I live and love and dream. Where I can just be myself. This is the place where I create my life, where I'm happy and where peace and contentment are. It's a place where I can find what I want and need, where I cannot get lost, where I know every part by touch. Where it's okay to not be able to see, and where I can safely adjust to being blind. It's a place where no one will laugh if I try and fail, where there are no pitying looks, but there is help when I ask for it. And I want to do it myself, no matter what "it" is. Independence has always been such a huge thing in my life, I don't want to give it up, not all of it.
I want to live normally, gardening, keeping house, cooking and baking (and my annual candy making), enjoying hobbies, listening to music and sports, playing with my grandchildren, entertaining, traveling from time to time, and just spending time with the most amazing man I've ever known. I want to enjoy, to play, to laugh and giggle, to have fun. I really do love my life, and while there are challenges, it's still great.
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