Day 97

New month, new haircut, new attitude, new ideas for moving forward. I’m going to make a frog pond in the backyard. I miss hearing them so I’ll hope to make frogs happy here. The early bird songs are the best alarm clock I can think of. When the Minnie alarm goes off about 5 am, I can listen for the soft waking up bird songs. Today, after church, I have a plan to get busy with a creative project.

Senior news column

June Fathers

My father had two passions: salmon fishing and growing flowers. He was very good at both pursuits. When I was a little girl I wanted to go fishing with him out on Humboldt Bay in his small boat but unfortunately as soon as the waves would move us up and down I was sea sick after about half an hour and he had to bring me back to the beach. I gave up trying after a couple of trips. The salmon steaks were welcome at the dining room table and I was sorry that I couldn’t have been there when he brought them in. I did better with the gardening. I have wonderful memories of following him around while he talked about the plants and instructed me on which were weeds that I could pull out and which were not to be touched. My father had a giant green thumb with fuchsias and begonias. He knew where they would be happy and how to feed and care for them. They seemed to bloom bigger and longer than any other peoples’ plants. Once I asked him his secret and he said he tipped his cigar ashes into the containers. Maybe that was the secret ingredient.

Years later on a visit to Crescent City, my father asked me to show him my garden. Outside were rows of carrots, cabbages, potatoes, chard, onions  and a wall of peas. “Where are the flowers?”, he asked. I gave him the cold hard economic facts of being a single parent with three teen-agers. “You can’t eat flowers.” He went to the pea patch and happily munched on the fresh pods. Later, thanks to one of my sons, we had fresh fish, not salmon, for dinner along with the produce from the backyard. I know my father was disappointed that I didn’t have any of the plants that thrive here like the ones he grew so well in Eureka.

Now I have the time and place for growing flowers. Once when I was watering the fuchsias, I swear I smelled cigar smoke. All I know for sure it that the plants were happy and more prolific than ever before. Along with flowers, I still have vegetables: peas, chard, green onions, spinach, and kale are growing in my garden. There is room in my garden for both flowers to nourish my soul and vegetables  to nourish my body.