Shameful Neglect.

Today, I glazed like crazy...

About seven years ago, I stopped doing yard work in the giant "way back" space at the back of my home. There are almost two backyards. One is close to the house, and looks fairly civilized. It has a lawn, and a circular brick patio that I built the first summer that I lived in the house. The very back of the yard has my clay shed. My mom got really sick, and ended up in the hospital and a care home. I visited often, and spent the remaining time making work for Open Studios. For several summers, the same pattern occurred. I had limited time, and I always chose to make art. Then, the yard started growing wild blackberry. It took over the whole area, with vines climbing into all of the trees. A rogue apricot tree started sending up small trees from the roots. They took over all of the pathways. It was impossible to get around the garage and the clay shed. The vines were like velcro. I started to try to cut them back, but by the time yard waste disposal day rolled around every other week, the vines and trees had grown back. 

I was able to see how my yard was impinging upon my neighbors. Last February, I went into a neighbor's yard, to look for my cat, Eugene. I could see how awful my yard mess looked from their backyard. It was embarrassing. One morning, Percy went out to chase a possum at about 3:00 a.m., as usual. He got stuck in a part of the yard that I couldn't get to. It was like Sleeping Beauty's castle, with lots of yappy barking. So, I finally hired a crew of brave gents to come out and trim it all back. They worked valiently, and it was awful work. Their chipper shredder worked pretty hard, too.

Now, I'm seeing all of the junk that was hidden in the vines. There are tons of old pots and sculptures. It looks like a trailer park that has experienced a tornado. So, I planted a few low plants today. And, I started cleaning up the lawn furniture. Next month, I'll attack painting the remaining three sides of the clay shed. It's important to make sure that anything coming out of the ground gets hacked back. Then, I'm going to smother the area behind the shed with plastic. That was the nexus of the blackberry vine. Oh, and the yerba buena.  Hoping to look a little more civilized, soon...

It was some kind of penance...

For neglecting my backyard over the years...

The crew cleared out the blackberry vines...

And, the mint and ivy...