TheBanyanTree: Happy Father's Day

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Hopefully today will be the last day of a seemingly endless streak of hot
days.  It’s unusual for us to have such a long stretch of heat, but it must
be global warming, right?

We haven’t received any rain this week.  I’ve been dragging hoses around the
yard watering those thirsty plants and flowers.  Our tomato plants have
small flowers which will turn into big fat red tomatoes later this summer.
A few of my plants are struggling – maybe with the heat or maybe with the
soil.  My garden is always an experiment in what grows where and each season
I have a few failures.

My next door neighbor is usually out watering his garden in the early
evening.  As an introvert, I hate talking to people, but I broke down and
talked to him last night.  He lives by himself.  He smokes and has a
terrible cough.  His garage is jammed with stuff and is falling apart.  He
told me he wants to build a new garage this year.  That remains to be seen.
I’m sure what stops him from building a new one is going through all the
junk in the current garage.  He’s a hoarder; besides his garage, his house
is jam-packed with stuff.  He’s a nice guy, however, I’m just an introvert,
and when I’m out in my yard, I’m not really into socializing.

We met another one of our neighbors, too.  She lives three doors down from
us in a really interesting house.  She was having a garage sale this
weekend.  Ray and I wandered down there in the heat on Friday afternoon.
She had some really interesting things, more of an artistic garage sale than
a practical type garage sale.  I bought some pictures for the house – a
photograph of Amish quilts hanging on a clothesline in the dead of winter, a
print of water-colored pink lilies, and three small frames containing
pressed flowers.

I found out that the two neighbors next to her have died this past winter,
they were in their 90s.  One of the houses is for sale and the other house
will be for sale soon.  She told me when she moved into the neighborhood in
1986, all the people were older, there no were children.  Now the
neighborhood is a mix of young families, young couples, couples our age, and
seniors.  Of course, in this market, it will take forever for any house to
sell.

Asher and Susan moved this weekend from their north side St. Paul
neighborhood to the west side of St. Paul, which is really the south side,
across the river, but, remember, this is St. Paul, and nothing makes sense.
Their rented house was built in 1890.  It has a large screened-in front
porch and a large deck in the back.  The kitchen’s been updated.  The two
bathrooms are very cool.  There are lots of windows and closets.  The
backyard is very private, surrounded by trees and bushes.  All the rooms
kind of weave together.  I love old houses.  I love imagining the families
who lived in them.

Our main drain backed up again yesterday.  Ray wrestled with it for a while
and then told me to call Roto-Rooter.  He came out and cleared out the line,
but they want to come back on Monday to put a camera in the line going out
to the street.  He can’t get his large blades through there.  It could be a
tree root or possibly the pipe has partially collapsed.  It sounds exciting
and expensive, doesn’t it?

Today is Father’s Day.  My father and all my grandfathers are gone.  My
Father’s Day celebration centers around Ray, who is the father of six
children, and grandfather to 10, and great-grandfather to several.  And my
son Asher, who is a father of two.  I’m not sure what we’ll do today – there
was talk of the beach or seeing Pirates of the Caribbean.  Asher has to be
home between 5 and 7 this evening for his all important cable and internet
hook-up.

One last day of heat and then we’ll slide back into the work week and the
upcoming summer solstice with normal June temperatures.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever.
~Author Unknown