Susan Says . . .

GRAVETTE — Only a week and a half until spring and boy, am I ready! We had some frosty mornings last week but temperatures warmed nicely by the weekend. Many of our daffodils are blooming now and hyacinths are coming up out beside the cellar. Our plow man has come, checked out the garden spot and promised to return when he thinks it is dry enough. We’ve been receiving a variety of garden catalogues. I passed one along to sister Nancy and her husband who are already ordering seeds and plants. Last week we received another one, gardens alive!, featuring many natural and organic products.

Gladys Taber, in The Book of Stillmeadow, wrote of late February, “It’s catalogue time again, and there’s never so fair a garden as the one that grows during a blizzard - on the colorful pages of the seed books. The seedsmen ought to be subsidized by the government because their catalogues bring hope of spring and summer to winter-worn folk. In the postman’s bag lie orchards and rose gardens, and acres of bouncing vegetables, all done in brown paper. And it seems a miracle to me that for a few cents you can buy beauty and nourishment, and I wonder what the seedsmen buy that’s half as precious as the stuff they sell!”

The week started off on a bright note when Joe brought the two youngest grandkids down to visit Monday evening. Alyssagot out the storybooks and read four, one right after another, and Matthew entertained himself trying to spell words with the wooden alphabet blocks. Tuesday was a busy day as I worked at the office in the morning, then drove to Southwest City about noon for a meeting. . I went to the funeral home for Al Dixon’s visitation and visited niece Laura and boys on my way home.

I went to the library to return a book Wednesday morning and on to thepharmacy to get a prescription filled and buy a few greeting cards. Jim finished his work at a home near Maysville and came in about noon.

I’m not usually up that early but I glanced out the kitchen window after feeding the cat about 6:30 Thursday morning. I saw a beautiful sight, seven deer strolling through the field! Kay called for a phone visit before leaving for home later that morning. Jim spent the morning putting up trim at our hairdresser’s home and worked on our patio enclosure when he came home. I called the county to report a controlled burn and set fire to the pile of limbs in the back yard. I dragged a few fallen branches from the fencerow to the fire and pulled some grass and dead foliage from the flowerbedsnear the cellar.

Nancy stayed with Mama while I worked at the office Friday morning and Laura stopped by shortly after I got home. I did a little housecleaning, made a trip to the grocery store and caught up on some reading that afternoon. When Jim came in from work I went out and brought home fish sandwiches for our supper. Shortly after we finished our meal we had a visit from the fellow who plows our garden and his wife. We walked the boundaries of the garden spot and he inspected the soil before revealing his plans for the plowing.

I took our recyclables to the collection trailer before preparing breakfast Saturday morning. Jim went out to work on the patio enclosure after we ate and I did a little work cleaning up the yard.Nancy and her husband stopped by to look over the field where they plan to cut hay. I went with Jim to check on a job in early afternoon and we returned shortly before time to watch the Hogs basketball game.

-Susan Holland

Susan Holland, who works for The News Herald, is a lifelong Benton County resident.