writes:

I've still got two closets full of late wife's stuff from nearly two years
ago. And to think she groused about having to deal with her parent's
stuff! Truly, I'm not a lot better, though I'm simplifying by the
twelve-step method: One trash can at a time. With occasional bags to the
local City Mission.

Hugs to Gary {{{ Gary }}}

It's very difficult, and no one knows unless they've been there and lost
someone very close. I still have all of my son's things and don't even
concern myself with when to go through them and save just a small amount.
My closets here at the new house are shared with his things as well as the
bedroom I use having boxes of his things in it on the other side. (The
large bedroom is set aside for office.) I figure that I'll know when the
time is right to sort Mark's things; after all, I have the rest of my life
to do it. None of the stuff that is yelling at me to go through is his
stuff except that which belonged to him as a child, but the boys' stuff is
a very small amount of that that needs to be sorted (and tossed!). I've
tried very hard to concentrate on living which is why the garden is such a
blessing. It's been my biggest help for adjustment to his being gone from
this physical life. There is nothing that can quite match going into the
garden early in the morning and seeing the miracle of life before our
eyes. Watching the miracles each morning that took place from dusk to
dawn is a truly wonderful thing. I told my two older sons and close
friends that I knew I would be okay when I started planting grapes and
kiwi since they both take two to five years to produce. :-) *And* I do
have some kiwi this year, only a few small bunches, but they are there!
*And* the mulberry tree (black) had a bunch of berries on it this summer.
The paw-paw trees are still very short but someday . . . g

My son would be so pleased that this yard and garden has been such a
comfort to me. It's so wonderful to share the bounty from it with others,
especially those who have shown me kindness these last few years. If
you're interested, Mark's pages are at www.pacifier.com/~bowman which was
his account; it seemed appropriate to place his memorial pages there. The
counter was over 10,000 when the server changed some things and it no
longer works, bummer.

I'm _almost_ looking forward to winter!

Oh, the wonder of planning for next spring! It's so much fun looking at
all the catalogs and thinking back to what people said about what plants .
.. . and looking for the bits and pieces of jotted notes as to what to be
sure to remember for next year.g


The good thing about growing garlic, is that I can start looking forward
to
spring in late October, knowing the wheel will come around once again.

Looked at part of your web pages; you are the only person I "know" who has
snow around their veggies. LOL

You are a gardener after my heart with the leek flowers.g I love to see
mine bloom and later use the scissors on them to include the bulblets (is
that the right term?) to include them in soups, etc. They lose their bite
but add such a wonderful flavor. I toss the rest into a pot of soup and
take it out before serving for the extra the stem and rest provide.

Your grandbaby is cute as only grandbabies can be. :-)

So what do you do with all that garlic?

Glenna