Letter to Patty Hearst

Saturday got off to a great start. I love the day after I’ve thoroughly watered all the garden beds. I’m under no pressure to get busy right away with watering. Instead, I focused on the house interior washing floors, beating rugs outside, thrashing the compost, cleaning toilets and some windows, doing laundry and vacuuming. And when all that was done, I noticed that the wind had stopped. Finally, I could apply the second coat of stain to the deck. So that’s what I did.

I’ve lots of energy first thing in the morning, so I kept going. I fixed the lock mechanism on the front door, put a new latch on the screen door, and then, as walking time approached, I did something I love to do. I shot myself up with Tezspire.

By 9:00 I was done and ready for our morning walk, and when we were finished, we went into the village to shop. Saturday morning is an excellent time to shop at Nester’s because everyone is at the farmers’ market. When I got home, I washed another floor, hung up the laundry, sorted the recycling and then fed the pets. It was 11:00 when I stopped to watch a vlogger I love before heading out to Silva Bay. At 11:00 I’d already walked 7,500 steps.

I drove to Silva Bay and discovered that the entire south end of the island had no power, so the food truck was closed. Dan and Steve arrived and we came into the village to eat at Ground Up instead. We had a good short visit, and then Sheba and I came home. I did just a few chores. It was 19° but it was very cool in the shade. In the sunshine, it was wonderful, but I was not into doing more raking and toting. It can wait.

Instead, I had a spa and then we went for our afternoon walk. It was short as Sheba gets overheated if we walk too far in the afternoon. When we got back, I did some spot watering of plants showing signs of wilting, and then it was time for our supper and a movie. 

Life is so, so good!

No, it’s even better than that. It’s fucking heaven living in Pinecone Park. Now that drought conditions have set in, I must water every plant thoroughly every second day. On days when I don’t do that, I must spot water where water is needed. 

If I was rich, I would upgrade my water system to increase the pressure, and I’d install an automatic watering system. Although I’m not rich, I have two hands and two long hoses, I’m home every day, and I monitor the beds as I water and again at night. When I’m not watering, I’m raking and toting, bed cleaning/tilling, picking the fruit (blueberries are labour intensive—taking brown tips off, de-stemming), and weed whacking.

Just as getting a dog means taking on a lot of daily walking, my garden demands responsibilities. I am more that rewarded by the pleasure I get from being in it, particularly in the evening and even more now that I have a hammock. Oh my god, I love the hammock!

It’s like when I was a kid and I would be outside in the yard all day. I did the gardening. Don and Connie had no interest in the garden. I even felled a tree, just as I do here. Full circle, and like that kid, I feel safest here in my yard. I love being outside all day and working. Today: 12,000 steps. Every day I’m over ten thousand.

I don’t need to make any decisions. I just get up and follow the watering schedule and work till mid-afternoon. I get started by 8:00. If I didn’t have this garden, I would not be nearly as active as I am. I’d be reading. In Vancouver, I did long-distance (for me) walking. I’d walk twelve to twenty kilometres and then take the bus home. That’s how I filled my days (if it wasn’t raining).

•

I’ve finally written to ask my friend Nancy if she would help me get a letter to Patty Hearst. I believe she has a connection. Ms. Hearst had an enormously positive impact on me when I was young. All my life, I defended Don and Connie. All my life I protected them. I remember asking Dr. S. in our first or second meeting not to speak ill of them.

That has all changed. D. S. and I are aligned in our thinking. I’m extremely disappointed in them. I have changed my surname and emotionally disowned them. I call them Don and Connie now. I think of them as my captors with benefits.

P.S. I wrote this last night. When I read it this morning, when I got to the end, I felt a rush of sympathy for D&C. Dr. S. says that is not uncommon in neglected children.

•

Today: My Day. Maybe tacos at Silva Bay. Watering, and lots of it, and hopefully, some rakin’ and totin’. Today there is a BC Stutterers support group meeting. but I’d rather be working outside. I’ll decide whether or not to attend when it comes time to log in.

The h=enormous Ocean Spray bush is blooming. This one gives me
privacy from Dave and Ursula's home.

The plumbs are growing!

Same with the apples.

After dinner, I go out to pick and eat raspberries.

I've a decent blueberry crop coming.

The Butterbur; me for scale.

Don and Connie were not gardeners. I did the gardening and
we had wonderfully fragrant 'Pinks" (Carnations) growing.
I'm glad to have them here in my garden.

Every year, I get a large clump of Campions growing
somewhere on the property.

Above and below: two gorgeous Hostas.

Another Ocean Spray. They are deliciously fragrant and they
grow wild all over the island.

These perennial Geraniums are spectacular. I have several
growing in Pinecone Park.

Just one small branch of my Climbing Hydrangea
has variegated leaves.

The colour of this small Geranium is stunning in real life.

This fucshia plamd osis huge and full of blooms.

A favourite fucshia.

Thihs geranium is four years old. I look after it through the Winter every year.