well, i started the yard

[fflo]

I'm gonna pay for it tomorrow---I'm sore already---but I got down under the lilac bush in front of the front door---which is a big lilac indeed---and pulled out dead leaves and sticks from last year that were in among the rocks. That's pretty much all I accomplished, and I didn't even finish that job, as the front part of the lilac is bordered by these pesky piney bushey things [note lack of proper horticultural nomenclature] and it's danged hard to get under 'em in short sleeves without scratchin' yerself all to hell. Not to mention I was already a tad achey and shakey-muscled (all -y endings shall henceforth be -ey), and I'd been at it for the better part of the day. It's those big hunkin' rocks, and all the crawling and reaching and ---well, you garden people probably know, and the rest of you stopped reading back at "it's a big lilac". . .

So, anyway, it was just measley tiny step 1 in dealing with yard duties. But it was #1 on my list of things to do this weekend if the weather was decent, and my but it was decent today. Can't ask for a purtier one. Well, maybe it'd be nicer if all the dead stuff from last year were cleared out (double entendre acknowledged) and I were experiencing it from the deck furniture we never got with a silly drink in a tall glass and a book, and, well, we won't speculate about what else in my imagination would make the scene more appealing.

Comments

[fflo.livejournal.com]

By gum, I actually did the hot shower and aspirin combo without even seeing your post. Could be I'm psychic---but it's actually that I got similar suggestions from Sandi and from a handful of neighbors I chatted with last night, folks a little older than I am who do gardening things and know something about maintenance of post-40 bodies.

It's funny (strange): the median age of a person I'm conversing with has gone up rather greatly with this break-up, and not just because of the disappearance of Holly, along with her grad. school cronies---oh, pardon me: her "cohort" (Lord how I bristle at the tone with which that one's tossed around); I've also been talking more to more older folks. Not nearly so old as Bea most of the time, but still. Might have to ponder the general subject a bit more.

Juniper, hunh. I dunno. Google again! (Looked up "trillium" yesterday---wow.)

[groovesinorbit]

Good to talk with ya this afternoon! So, what's the scoop on cronies/cohort? That's a new one on me. I like cronies, personally. Cronies-crones-old wise women, what's not to like?

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Cronies are grand---and I love that word, too. "Cohort" is the collective noun for one's classmates, when one's class is those also in a particular program of graduate study; it's used with a faux casual, esp. when the class is new, that smacks of the sort of exclusivity and otherliness that comes with not only such programs but, for that matter, with such jargon and insider vocab. in general. Plus it's got the arrogance of the singular collective form of a word that's congenial and casual in the plural---e.g., me 'n' my cohorts were down at the pool hall . . .

[groovesinorbit]

Ah, I see. Cohort does have an arrogant feel used like that. Bleah!