Good day friends.....
Madgardener, aka "Maddie" here. Not melodramatics, no fan fare, no
horns or sad sounds. Short and sweet. (for a change) things here in
Faerie Holler are going in the direction that I previously talked about.
I am facing upheavals and life changing situations that continuously
challenge me on a daily basis. I am packing my house into boxes that I
have to make sure are not silly things. Packing a house that holds more
than 40 years of memories isn't easy. Divorce is not pretty, and when
you think you know someone, you might NOT. I WILL lose my home and
Faerie Holler. I might lose the only vehicle I have because Squire (aka
John, the one day ex-husband when the divorce comes final)decided to not
pay the house note or car note, has cut off my health insurance, the
house insurance and car insurance (which makes the over due amounts even
more threatening and imminent) I am dealing with life on this level.
But in the midst of all the turmoil, despite facing literal
homelessness, I have the love and support of a person who truly loves
and adores me for the awesome woman that I realize I've always been. I'm
not perfect, but being happy makes things more tolerable and it just
goes to show that if things are right emotionally, the rest try to fall
into place. Say a job prayer for us. We've still not landed jobs here
in the eastern part of Tennessee. To make enough to pay rent and basic
things would seem simple enough. And we're both willing to work. But
it's not as easy as it used to be. And we both have incredible
qualifications.

We need to find a place to live, and that means I might lose my three
dogs that I love dearly (as well as two of the four cats, as my oldest
son who lives with me is leaving the sinking ship and will take his cat
with him, and dear old Pester's aka "Old Krusty the Kat" will go to my
youngest son who now lives with his girlfriend and two children not far
from here. To pack my gardening books, my life, and face harsh
realities is easy when you have the emotional support of someone who is
solid and real and who feels deeply about life with you. Soooo, when
son moves out (whenever that happens, and it might be when the mortgage
company initiates foreclosure which is just a matter of time) the
internet will be shut off again. But I have my yahoo account address,
and unless the car financing company repossesses the only transportation
I have before I can relocate to a hospitable place where I can catch a
bus or walk to work, I will check my e-mail's at the library as I did
this summer when the crap was starting to hit the fence.

If I am able, I will dig up bulbs and send them to a few friends in the
states as I am able as I dismantle things here. I know I can't take
things with me, but there are some things I MUST take. My dragon lilies
(now realizing they're 15 year old Regal lilies) are dug up and in a
bucket with rich, black soil to protect them as they slumber for
Springtime. Beverly's "taters" or Wood's hyacinths that she gifted me a
few years ago that are now a memory as she too has lost her home after
losing sweet George. I will try to keep "Gardengal" Pam Sinclair's gift
of the "Diablo" ninebark if I can. I will dig up the three incredible
tree peonies and pot them that Mary Emma had me take of her now
destroyed and dismantled gardens. If I can do it, I will cut back and
dig up and pot the Deutzia that sweet John Skeffington rooted me a
little cutting from his own that despite the harsh drought that we're
still in, flourishes. There will be things that I know I can't dig and
take. I've dug up bulbs and a few things already, but realistically I
realize that it's just being practical and moving on with life. I
promise that I will try and come and write and share things of gardening
nature. I have a few things to share with you all now as it is.......in
digging up the "Dragon lilies" the other day in a moment of garden
madness,James came out and found me digging bulbs. We decided to
attempt to dig the tuber of the 4 o'clocks that this year flourished
incredibly. The magenta tuber I accidentally broke off in digging up
the Dragon lily was the size of a football........so we tried to dig up
a magenta tuber and a yellow flowered one. they were HUGE. And bent the
Fiskar spade in the process. The drought has tightened up the soil to a
point where it's like digging up a tree.

I am now looking for bulbs only, and focusing on things I CAN'T replace
ever. And I know I can't have regrets, because I have pictures and some
of my words. My love is with you all and I promise I will keep in touch
and hopefully before Spring, there will be another Faerie Holler
wherever it winds up being. Have a good fall and please, keep in touch?

Madgardener, up on the ridge, back in Faerie Holler, overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36 where the drought
still prevails