2016 Season Ends and Days Ahead

The 2016 Prospect Gardening season ended last Saturday, October 22nd.  The day started with clouds and temperatures that required a stocking cap and extra layers of clothes.

Here's Bob weeding one of the beds in a section of the Garden that borders the Regent Neighborhood. The Gardens straddle the Regent and Dudgeon-Monroe neighborhoods.

Thanks, Bob, for your help. Love that stocking cap!

About ten o'clock the sun came out, warming all of us.  Temperatures reached the upper sixties by noon, as the magnificent fall day continued to unfold.  

 Here's Ann sweeping the steps, after working hard weeding, cutting back plants and hauling plant material up the ramps. Cleaning up, I think, is her favorite task. Thanks, Ann, for a being a loyal and dedicated volunteer.   

A final task is to put up the orange plastic snow fences; hopefully to signal the city snow blowers that snow should not be pushed into the Gardens. The fences have accomplished this goal since we have erected them.

Here's me, along with Bob, putting in place the first of three sections of fencing.  Bob is a Boy Scout leader and knows his knots.  He attempted to teach me how to tie a square knot supplementing my usual granny knot.  The lesson really didn't stick. After the first attempt, I returned to my favorite granny knot.

 Throughout the 2016 season, Ann always provided a homemade treat for the crew. Here's Bob, Laura and Ken enjoying delicious lemon bars. After finishing work, everybody left with bars to enjoy later.

 A closeup of Bob enjoying a lemon bar. Bob once joked that the major reason he volunteers is because of Ann's treats. So indeed food could be one way to a volunteer's heart and motivate gardening behaviors.

Gardening always includes opportunities to connect with neighbors and friends.  Here's Laura and her dog, Esther, approaching the crew during the break.

Esther loves Ann. The two bonded the first time they met. Esther becomes so excited when she hears and sees Ann.  Ann scoops Esther into her arms, and Esther enthusiastically expresses her love.

Shortly after noon,  Ann, Laura and I returned our wheelbarrow full of tools back to a small shed near Ernie's  backyard. The shed is on city property bordering the bike path and has been there for years.   I covered the wheelbarrow and the contents with a tarp, in anticipation of the snow that will most likely find its way through the shed's cracks.

We said goodbye to Laura, a wonderful hardworking, steady volunteer gardener, and walked to our car.  Ann and I felt the physical effects of gardening while being grateful for Bob's, Laura's and Ken's companionship, diligence, and assistance today.  Thanks, Ken, too for your hard work as a volunteer on many work days.

In the afternoon, Ann and I enjoyed lunch at the next door German restaurant, the Freiburg. We intended to lunch at Colectivo, about a quarter block further east. On our way, we changed our minds. This behavior indicates the choices we have within walking distance.  Urban living has its advantages. 

Now I anticipate winter while enjoying the remaining days of fall. Yesterday included a long walk in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. On Thursday, I will travel to another beautiful Wisconsin location, Pine Lake, near Westfield, for a meditation retreat concluding with a Sunday lunch. I look forward to the solitude of the retreat, the beauty of the grounds and being disconnected from the media, email and from my cell phone.  Ann enjoys her own kind of retreat at home.