It happend at lunchtime on Thursday

Some of you may have read that I am taking care of my friend Sally who had a recent operation and is preparing to have another one just as soon as her blood pressure and heart rate have stabilized.

Normally right after lunch, Sally naps or watches TV (which she does most of the day) while I work in her basement, moving her huge amounts of "stuff" around or to her car so things can go to the thrift store or the trash.  I say trash because she is convinced everything in the basement is moldy and wants some of it gone or sanitized.

Unfortunately, there is not much she wants to get rid of, even after saying she did.  To add to the problem, there is no water in Sally's basement, so I have to carry buckets filled with water and bleach down there.  However, on Thursday, instead of the usual routine, I hurt my shoulder and decided to give it a bit of a rest by putting my flower bed to bed for the winter.

Many of you who have visited here before know what my flower bed looks like.  I keep saying it's looking shabby and needs to go. 

So, I got out my mower and gas can and prepared to spend the afternoon getting rid of the mess while the weather was still HOT.

For many of my European friends, autumn has appeared in full bloom.  Some have experienced a lot of rain, while parts of Germany have been blanketed with snow.   Not so here, as you can see that many of the leaves on my one and only deciduous tree still has most of its leaves.

After about two hours, I was finished with the part I could get with the mower and weed eater.  The rest of the plants sit among many rocks I put down when I originally designed the garden.  These will have to be removed by hand (or more specifically clippers).

At least you can see why I call it a flower bed.

Although I purposely left a few plants around the outside perimeter,

the same can't be said

for the area at the front of the house that I can't get my lawn mower into.  For now, though, the gardening will have to wait.  At least until my shoulder is better.

Several years ago, a neighbor asked me why I do this, and I said because it's so good for the soil and it spreads seeds (some of which I should not be spreading, I'm sure).  The same person suggested I bag everything up, rather than grinding it into itsy-bitsy pieces.  That same lady bags all her garden and lawn clippings into black plastic bags and the trash people take them away each week.   I reminded her that by taking time to put this bed to rest each autumn, I have mulched my yard and don't have to buy, then spread purchased mulch, so my soil is happy, my trash collector is happy, my wallet is happy, and I am happy.  Just look at this lovely dirt that is so soft, fluffy, and loose, I don't need to aerate it.

Unfortunately, I didn't help my shoulder, and now I'm having trouble lifting it .  Even typing is a chore.   However, I appreciate your continued visits and your lovely comments.  My shoulder thanks you, too.