My Community Keeps Me Going

First in a Series of Lockdown Blogs

My community keeps me going in these uncertain times. After enduring a slow process to sell my home and beloved garden of 25 years, the end came in a downpour on March 16th. Though I felt I had done a lot of preparation, there was still a ton to be removed before the closing of escrow on the 17th.

Stuff left on driveway on Sunday March 15

Without the extraordinary help of two people, I simply could not have done it. Camera shy Vinita, who appeared in my life last October to help me get the property cleaned up to put on the market, came to my rescue again. Sunday afternoon, she took a load of paint cans for recycling way out in the Valley, then returned to take plants, pots of soil and more garden odds and ends to her garden.

Meanwhile, I texted Stan, a neighbor and good friend, I needed more help to clean out the garage. With his wife’s empty SUV, we took a load to my apartment and got the garage swept. But much of this was left on the driveway for Monday.

Garage still to be cleared out

That Monday, the 16th, as I drove from my apartment to my house (now belonging to new owners), I spotted an amazing rainbow, and stopped at the bluff to shoot a clip. You can see it here.Click here to watch.

Partial Rainbow over the ocean

Stan came to the rescue again on Monday, in a downpour, and loaded up his SUV and made two trips with me to my apartment. My own car was full with old art that needs to go to my storage unit. It is still full sitting out in the apartment carport. Stan is about 6’4″ and sturdy, thankfully. Because of working three cold wet days outdoors, I got the first case of laryngitis in my life, It was difficult to communicate. We were all wearing masks.

Kaye with Mask

The last load out of my house happened quickly, as it was raining, but I took a moment to have Stan snap a photo of me saying goodbye to the garden I developed and featured lovingly on my channel for nearly eight years. The last thing I grabbed were a couple of stems of Butingghan tomato to root. My neighbor, Nick Tate, husband of Hazel (Tea, Scones and Tales of Post-War London) happened to drive by just as we were ready to go and I made him jump into the photo with me. It was a rushed end to a long reign of 25 years. There is a lot of family history in that house.

Last Photo at Late Bloomer Garden 1.0

During the lockdown, for an antidote, please watch some of my recent videos, like The Last Rain. There will be no new videos coming from that garden, except the “Sweet Goodbye” PREMIERING today at 5PM PST at this link: https://youtu.be/ZO_ru4SFe5w

Could there be a more trying time to move, with a world-wide pandemic and a bad chest cold (now much better)? But, my community keeps me going. See how I’m getting fed in the next part!

Interacting directly during the livestreams and video premieres as I did yesterday keeps me in contact with followers of Late Bloomer Show. I’ll be on again tomorrow morning at 8am PST. If you’ve never joined, please tune in. We are a lovely, supportive community of garden lovers of all levels. Stay well. – Kaye