Two Women Did This
Without Prejudice
We decided to no longer wait for the Men Of The House, the M.O.T.H.S., to
do all the stuff in the garden, for Spring and for a walking little doll. Shilo, who after 7 boys has come as an eye opener for my daughter I share a property with. She feels like she has won a million dollars, she said.
At the same time we have all this lovely old retro " stuff" from my former parents in law, both now
sadly deceased. And some " stuff " comes from the dairy farm they owned when I was a young Mum and it means a lot to the grand daughters, my 3 girls, to have their Grandmas's and Grand Dad's mostly hand made items.
We have the old tools, bikes, plants, furniture, Shelta umbrellas, The Yates catalogue from 1941, car manuals, books, knitted jumpers, fantastic finely crocheted items, garden pots, tea pots and tea pot covers. We have stepped back in time to the fifties era and made it work. The only conundrum we had was having the front garden modern as long as we could make the left side garden cottage.
It took one full long day to dig up the front garden, ( mostly weed and holes and dirt ) and start all over again. We had the Yucca's and Agave's already so it was just a matter of planting them, we had dug and raked and sown grass seed weeks ago and after eliminating the weeds, and carefully fertilising, we had fine green " hair " on the front lawn areas.
The oldest M.O.T.H.S complain bitterly that we do all this work, AFTER
they leave home and one has moved back. We reply they were welcome to join in and help but they mutter and slope off. It's easier if they don't help.
Our hands look as if they have exploded and are forever coated in mud, paint and blood. But we love it. We feel we have only just begun and our rusty fencing skills have come back after twenty odd years.
We make barriers and shape gates, attach PVC coated chain wire to the paling
fence, we drive in nails and screws and " lace " posts without a " lacing needle " . ( Nor fun )
We are back broken but determined. The Moths need to understand that hard work is it's own reward and has not much to do with money. It's about achieving. There is little more satisfying than putting your feet up at the end of the day. Knowing that you have done your best. That is such a great feeling
