Sunday, June 19, 2011 — Music on Fathers' Day

I've just been listening to Oak and Thorn again this morning during breakfast and the mending of a few garments before putting them in the wash. The music is mostly from Scotland ...largely from the Hebrides. Some sets featuring father/child relationships and happenings, some played or written by father/child teams and so on, always harking back to the role of the father. Some of these songs tell such emotional stories I dissolve in tears. I am such an easy mark. I find myself thinking of my own children and imagining their feelings as they experience this first Fathers' Day since their sweet father died.

I think our children are lucky in that they can know for sure that their Dad was one of those people who was meant to be a parent. He wanted children and grew with the experience every year as our family grew and matured.

My Sunday morning radio listening has now progressed to Ira Glass and This American Life. Of course all the stories have to do with fathers. The stories are amazing and sometimes scary, sometimes funny and though they often speak of fathers different from what I know, they all speak to something consistent with fatherhood. It's fantastic what different experiences people have with fathers. Our Kathy is still so openly struggling with the loss of her father but I am less sure of how our sons are dealing with it. Men simply don't wear their hearts so openly on their sleeves as much as Kath. My heart tells me they are having all the same feeling she is, just can't let it out in the same way.

One man in a radio story is mentioning his dad helping him with his taxes as an adult each year. That resonates. My children's father wasn't a big talker about love to his children but every thing he did showed them how much he loved them. We were all so lucky.

Enough radio for now. I'm out the door to weed another area of the garden. This garden that will be open to at least a hundred people next Saturday. I've just been notified that Sunday will also be a day to receive people ........all the volunteers and other hosts are being invited informally to go see "the other peoples' gardens." Still not quite sure how that works. I mean, if I go see other gardens on Sunday, who plays host at my garden? I'm sure it will reveal itself. In the meantime, I'm trying to tackle a new area of the garden each day. When I was in graduate school in Design, I had a drawing teacher who would say, "Don't get caught in the upper right hand corner of the drawing on a Thursday afternoon." He meant that you should always keep the gestault in mind and not concentrate on just one spot so you'll have something to show on the whole sheet of paper when it is due to be turned in. I subscribe to that advice and try like mad to follow it when I can get myself to. Doesn't always work but usually it's what helps me get the job done.

Bye for now, though I will probably come back later today and add a picture or two.... So, check in later if the spirit moves you. I'm back. Did my weeding but suddenly I actually have to think of doing it earlier before the hot sun. I can hardly believe I said that. If tomorrow follows suit I'll believe it's true. I weeded until I was just too hot, then took refuge in the studio where I did email business before going to do my laps. The pool was totally empty for a while. What a luxury. After returning to feed the dogs and change clothes I had dinner at the Peter Gealey's with the Jensens and the McKinley's who were traveling with Peter and Mary and have been visiting the coast for the last few days. A great evening. It's their garden that ought to be in the tour. Gorgeous, with a maple that is to die for. I really appreciated being with them. Good conversation. Fun to have a visit with Felicia also. Sunday nights alone are not my favorite time. It was good to catch up on the McKinley's. Ed helped us so much when we first bought the PTA property on Alger Street. It was fun to show them the new "campus" yesterday. So that's my day ....and night. Hope you all had a good Father's Day. Bye for now, really.