Hello Friends,
For most of my life, I derived joy from gardens and plants. My Polish grandmother (Babci) introduced me to gardening both vegetables and flowers. She also had chickens rabbits and geese. Featherbeds in winter were fabulous in unheated bedrooms. When I stayed with her in winter I would sneak a crystal radio set up in the bedroom and listen with an earphone. Sometimes a talk show would scare me like when they were talking about how people can vanish without a trace. Back to the garden.
I loved the spring when the soil was tilled and the first plants would begin to emerge. The bulbs we planted in fall like onions and daffodils were among the first though crocus would start even when there was still snow on the ground. Then I would help her with seed planting and that lasted all the way up until about mid-June (fall plantings could start in summer too).
The lesson for me? Whatever grew last year can grow again and it is a metaphor for me now. I plant my seeds of friendship and keep my eyes open for the seedlings that may be the beginning of a new friendship. I wish I could plant a seed and have my wife grow and bloom once more; not on this planet at this time. I'm not sure a clone would be the same anyway: I doubt it.
So now that the seed catalogs are arriving in the mail I will see if the are seeds available for growing a companion.