Frank's Place

Last week we went to run some errands at Carole's mom's place. I often refer to it as "Frank's Place". Frank was Carole's dad. When he built his house he bought two lots instead of one so he would have extra space and wouldn't have to worry about pesky neighbors hemming him in. Also, it gave him room for the kick-ass gardens he used to plant. Frank didn't mess around when he did his garden. It was like a mini-farm. It was only about 1/4 of an acre and I know that doesn't sound like much...but it produced AMAZING amounts of food. All kinds of great vegetables. I miss that garden. When Frank died, that was the end of it.

One thing that Frank did when he built the house was to do his own landscaping. To that end he planted islands of azaleas and put in dogwood trees. The only things that mar the yard are a couple of camelia bushes and a holly tree. I hate both of those, and I don't think they were Frank's idea. Other than those, the yard is amazing when the azaleas and dogwoods are in bloom, which takes place roughly at the same time. Frank is gone, but the hard work he put into landscaping the glorious yard lives on. Last week it was just before peak for the blossoms. We'll be back out there on Sunday, but I fear peak will have passed by then. We'll see.

Until then, enjoy:

The vast tract of green on the left side of the photo is what was once Frank's garden. He would plant that side to side and end to end with all manner of vegetables. Tomatoes, beans, squash, potatoes, melons, corn, etc. Those were the days!

Our Casita, framed by the dogwoods.