O Sod O Mio!

The new yard next door is almost complete.

Wow! What a difference a day makes. Twenty four little hours. All the sun and the flowers. Where there used to be rain ... (with apologies to Stanley Adams, Maria Grever and Dinah Washington.)

The landscaping project next door is complete, and it came with a bonus.

After so many years of neglect, I just can't get over how nice the front yard next door is looking. The sod went in and, Bingo! it really transformed the place.

Now, Dr. K will have to get someone to mow that beautiful lawn.

When the garden work started, the front yard looked like this:

In the beginning ...

Now, to see it looking like this is a joy:

What a little sod can do ...

I'm sure people in other parts of the world must think we are a little batty. Those of us who live in small suburban houses in America, like to decorate them a bit with flowers and grass, even though it takes water and time to care for them. Each of these places is our own little piece of heaven.

So now Dr. Z has hers.

And it came with an added bonus for me.

Remember the damage to my lawn made by the opossum, and the skunk and their troop of friends digging for grubs? It looked like this:

What a mess.

Mr. Potts and his workers had enough sod left over from the job at Dr. Z's that they came over yesterday afternoon and replaced the damaged sod in my lawn! Wow! Is that an improvement.

I'm going to keep it wet so it will grow and fill in the damaged spot. What a bonus for me.

So, my own little piece of heaven here in the suburbs of San Francisco has also been improved by the Good Neighbor policy of my friend Mr. Potts.

It has been quite a spring: I've just completed my t@#^&, with the help of my sister, and it wasn't nearly as painful as we thought.

In the year since I lost my father, my grief has turned from weeping to the joy one finds in the morning after a night of sorrow. I am so blessed. Because I returned to spend one last year with him, I have returned to transform what was a family home to a lovely home of my own. How hard my father worked all his life. How thankful I am now, for all his legacy means: home, neighborhood, family and friends. And for his spirit, which will always be with me here in the home he loved.

Fort Chapman in the spring.

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