Sunday, June 21, 2009

Father's Day 2009


I've been doing so much gardening lately that my parents have been on my mind even more than usual.

Both my parents loved being surrounded by lush plants and both were excellent cooks. While they lived at their house in the southern Italian countryside, from 1972 to 1987, my father was a gardening fiend, staying out until after dark to tend to 3 acres of flowers, vegetables, fruiting and non-fruiting trees. In the summer the sun would have long gone down and he would still be outside. When we yelled to him from the house, "What ARE you doing out there?" he would sometimes answer, "Fertilizing the roses!", the fertilizer being "liquid gold", if you know what I mean.

In the photo above and in the one below he is the light blue speck in the distance.


When they moved to Seattle in 1987 my mother became quite passionate about the plants on the deck of their condo and in the apartment, and joined my father in his love for gardening. After his death in 1993, for the next 12 years, she kept the flowers blooming.


5 comments:

Christine said...

What a lovely tribute to your father. You must miss him. My dad was a gardener too, also passed away in 1993.
I'm so happy that you're posting again. I've missed you!

anna maria said...

Thanks Christine,

it was good to take a break, but I'm glad I'm back. It's nice to have the opportunity to have our "journals" online with colorful photos and the connections to others.

When I was putting this together a few weeks ago I remember trying to decide which of your blogs to link to, but I was surprised to see that neither were in the sidebar! I've immediately fixed that and Raven Ridge is linked.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Beautiful Anna Maria.
Gardens bring people out in different ways. I didn't really pay much attention to our yard/garden until our boys were grown and on their own.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful memories. I enjoyed reading them and seeing the photos of your mom. Beautiful -- your mom and her flowers.

Paz

Christine said...

Thank you for the link, Anna Maria. I'll reciprocate. I look forward to reading your posts.