Saturday, April 28, 2018

A to Z April Challenge: Y is for Yard Tools


When my sister and I cleaned out our parents’ home, we had to make many decisions about what to do with all the stuff. Which things are truly “valuable” and which have only sentiment in their favor? Should we sell it, keep it, or throw it away? To help ensure a future for our family’s heirlooms, I plan to leave a booklet for my daughters telling the stories of what they will inherit one day. (Not TOO soon, I hope!) With this challenge I begin my book of Heirlooms.



is for yard tools. I did not inherit my grandmother’s green thumb, but I did get her grubbing hoe and watering can.

Watering Can and Grubbing Hoe https://jollettetc.blogspot.com






My maternal grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis always had beautiful flowers and delicious tomatoes growing side by side. Her garden was not the beautifully planned and dedicated space that drives aficionados of Pinterest to pin and repin. But she did know the value of digging a $5.00 hole for a 50¢ plant.

As I looked for pictures to show off Grandma’s beautiful camellias and peonies, I just laughed at the sorry state of her flower beds.


Lucille Rucker Davis  https://jollettetc.blogspot.com

Sadly, we didn’t catch them in their glory. Our pictures are of beds that needed weeding and a little mulch. In my mind’s eye, though, I see the sparkle of white Spirea in bloom. Camellia bushes bursting with pink and red blooms. Blue hydrangea bending under their own weight. Tulips and daffodils. Tall gladiolas in pink, purple, white, and yellow held upright with a stick. Forsythia in March. Azaleas in April. Creeping Phlox and Candy Tuft dotted here and there to mark the outer limits of foundation beds. 

Wendy in Grandma's back yard https://jollettetc.blogspot.com
Me in Grandma's backyard
Grandma didn’t invest a lot of time in a vegetable garden. She simply made room in the flower beds for a few tomato plants because even in the 1960s good tomatoes, “real” tomatoes, were not to be had in the grocery store. She also had a reliable fig tree that supplied all she needed for everyone’s anticipated gift of fig preserves. 

I’m no master gardener, but I like changing my flowers out with the seasons. Grandma always emphasized the importance of frequent watering to get new plants established, and so I try to follow her advice. Admittedly the watering can requires more trips than the garden hose, but I do believe flowers prefer its soft rain. And the hoe - it is always by my side if I need to chop out a stubborn root or dig that $5 hole.

Wendy
© 2018, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved

16 comments:

  1. Ah, I love the theme of leaving stories of family heirlooms! And I like the old photographs too. I have my grandmother's garden tools as well.

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    1. Thanks for the compliment and for visiting.

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  2. You have reminded me that I need to get out a 'modern' watering can to water recently planted bulbs.

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  3. Your Grandma was sure right about the tomatoes - my Dad grew beefsteak tomatoes and picking one warmed by the sun, one slice fit in a sandwich.. yum! I admire people who make beautiful gardens, I'm more of a weedy woman!

    My A to Z Genealogy Challenges

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    1. I grew beefsteaks a couple years ago. Yep, one slice will do it!

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  4. My grandmother was an excellent back and front yard gardener - her entire back yard and beyond. Everything watered by hand from a cup dipped in a big bucket. I didn't inherit her green thumb, but I'm always surprised when I pop out the name of some flower I didn't realize I know. How nice that you have her gardening tools!

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  5. LOL on the $5 hole for a 50 cent plant. Real tomatoes...still a favorite in our garden, too. Great pictures of flower beds and YOU!

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  6. What great memories. I am not a gardener though my dad was a florist and we had lots of plants around our house.

    Janet’s Smiles

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    1. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I learned to sew, but my mother had the passion for it so I didn't NEED to sew - she would make things for me. Maybe that's how it was in your house. You didn't need a green thumb because your dad had it.

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  7. Beautiful way to leave mementos for your children! I have to go back and read many wonderful blogs from this year's challenge and yours is definitely on my list :) So much to do so little time.
    Stephanie Finnell
    @randallbychance from
    Katy Trail Creations

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    1. Yeah, I won't know what to do with myself in May. LOL

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  8. My dad always loved a fresh tomato and would eat it like an apple. I, on the other hand, will do just about anything to avoid them.

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    1. In summer I can eat tomato sandwiches all day every day - if I have enough tomatoes, that is.

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