The Secret Garden

April 2, 2010

The day before, as I'd forayed around the house with the very-giddy Ayize, giving everything a once-over, I'd noticed that the basement steps were in much worse shape than I'd previously thought. Several treads had splits running through the wood, and visions of workmen falling to the floor danced threateningly through my mind the rest of the day.

So that evening I called our long-time handyman, Scott Robinson, to discuss the situation. Long story short, he actually had some free time the very next day (luck be with me) and was willing to come out and re-do the treads in a single day. As usual, he was there to meet me promptly at 9:30. I showed him the problem areas but then we further inspected the staircase inside out, even underneath, and eventually drew the same conclusion...ALL the treads needed replacing. And even several of the backboards. Aye caramba!

Off he went to pick up materials for the repair, and with perfect timing, Peter Molitor arrived from Hanson Roofing to give me an estimate on the gutters. Peter was great, giving the entire roof and gutter system a thorough inspection before giving me the verdict.

The good news: my roof was good as new. In fact, he even thought it was new (most people seem to) and it sure looks sparkly and well-kept. But in actual fact, it's almost a decade old. Somehow it has just withstood the test of time with flying colors.

But the bad news: the gutters needed to be completely replaced. I figured this might be the case, given their current condition (they were made of a really poor-quality material and had suffered what looked like numerous DIY repairs over the years). Additionally, I was requesting a new gutter be installed on the front entranceway because I'd noticed the front porch flooded badly after a rain. Luckily, the estimate all came out in the wash, because I'd assumed I would need both roof work and gutter work. Nope...turns out I just needed a whole lot of gutter work!

Anyhow, estimate over, Peter drove off with a wave. Not long after, Scott returned, happy to have found high-quality material on sale for almost the same price as the lesser stuff (a really sturdy pine, almost the consistency of oak). It was like a ballet of the workmen around my house, and this was just day two!

Scott got to work downstairs on what ended up being an all-day job, poor guy. Meanwhile, my parents, sister, and nieces arrived to see the house. Ayize proudly led Sophie through the back room and out into our garden...

...and thus, the adventure began!

We had never planned to spend all morning at the house, but true to form for my family, events just kind of evolved into that happening. And what a wonderful morning it was!

It all started when Ayize noticed the painted concrete patio for the first time and started running around with a big stick, tracing the colorful patterns as he went. This got the girls interested -- "We're gonna come over and play four square all summer long!" -- and then they turned their attention towards exploring the garage.

I remembered all the tools we'd found the day before, and showed them to my dad. Next thing you know...

...Madison had found a strong garden sweeper and began brushing leaves and accumulated pine needles off the garage apron. Meanwhile, Dad noticed a number of plants in semi-broken pots, so we re-planted them in the dirt and discarded the pottery shards.

Ayize found a watering can filled with daddy long leg spiders. I knocked them out, and they scurried off into the garden. Ayize then happily "helped" Grandpa water the plants.

On a whim, we tried the hose, and it worked beautifully despite some minor winter damage at to the house-attached spigot. The girls loved trying out all the different sprays so they offered some real assistance to Grandpa in the watering department.

Madison decided to sweep up more of the leaves, pine needles and debris (it was a huge job, though thankfully, one I'll have to contend with in the spring only), and Sophie chipped in to lend a hand. The girls collected large piles and then swept them into snow shovels.

We began to collect the yard debris in these buckets, and soon we had the whole garage apron plus the giant concrete patio completely cleared. Thanks, girls!

Maddie being a total goofball. A girl after my own heart!

Sun was beating down, so they took a quick snuggle break.

While these two chilled, Madison helped me collect literally armfuls of dead leaf cover, yard debris, twigs and sticks, and old, dead foliage that covered almost every inch of the garden.

Much to our amazement, we discovered that a verdant garden was hibernating below all that crud! It may not have been tended to these past few years, but in all but the most-shaded spots, the garden appeared to have survived. Buried under each armful that we pulled from the ground, we found small sprouting tendrils of greens, reds, and browns. We had no idea what anything was, but we knew it looked viable. And there was even a pattern developing, a landscape that must have been master-planned by the previous owner, that had stayed true all this time.

We became really excited, and now everyone was getting in on the act. My dad wandered about poking gently at the small shoots, hazarding guesses as to what they might grow into. Ayize and Sophia jumped up and down with glee, begging to water the newfound seedlings.

So together they did!

We took another break after watering the entire area we'd managed to expose (about 50% of the garden).

The girls carefully read the instructions for this little strawberry plant that Ayize had gotten for Valentine's Day from our preschool teacher, and set to work potting it. They had a lot of fun, and Ayize did too (although he almost killed the poor plant several times in his enthusiasm)!

Weeman had been with us all morning, investigating his soon-to-be-home and suspiciously sniffing about at all the favorite spots of the previous canine occupant. He was throughly exhausted after all his busy-bodying, and was happy to just sit in the sun for a bit, getting pets from Ayize.

Back to work, and Madison helped me clear another five or six bucketfuls. By now, our yard waste can was almost full and you're not allowed to exceed that limit, so we stopped for the day. Then the girls watered what we'd just cleared.

We left the hose and went to sit down for lunch. Ayize seized the moment and dashed over to try to do some watering on his own, ha ha ha!

But as I gazed across the patio at him, smiling at his adorable antics, I was stunned by the "big picture". All I could think, as I looked at the exposed greenery, was Wow, what a difference!

See for yourself...

(The same area -- different angle -- one week before, at the time of the electrical estimate.)

Anyhow, my sister had run to the store for her weekly groceries and picked up picnic fixings on a whim. She carted everything back to the house, including fresh-brewed coffee, sandwiches, juice, tea, chips, and cookies. My mom had run home for a card table and some folding chairs.

It was heavenly to sink our tired butts down onto chairs and the garage apron and just eat, drink and chill.

This could be an advertisement for child-labor laws! The poor young 'uns were thoroughly busted after our long morning.

By this time, it was two o'clock. Ayize was straight sleepy (check out his eyes), it being a couple hours past his naptime, but sooooo happy to share a cuddle with his niece and his auntie. Anyhow, not long after, we disbanded and headed home.

But not before one last photo.

The girls declared triumphantly that they loved working on what they dubbed, "The Secret Garden". And Ayize looked pretty happy with our morning's efforts, too.

But I may have been the happiest of all. Not only did we discover a wonderful, surprise-filled "secret garden", but I had a beautiful -- and best of all, safe -- new set of stairs leading down to the basement. Woo hoo!

And the day was only halfway done.

After a short nap, Ayize was up again and raring to go. The weather had only increased in warmth so we headed to Noah's Playground for some fun with friends.

Brady rolled about happily on the recycled rubber playground, soaking up some rays.

We left the playground after an hour and headed down the hill to the beach. Ayize was thrilled to be barefoot in the sand.

He even tested the waters (I did too, and they were not even all that cold)!

Then he showed some love to Brianna...

...before rolling around in the sand, giggling like a maniac...

...and then lying back in classic sun worship position. That's my boy!

Brianna got in on the act while Ayize did some hamstring stretches.

Then they started doing this bizarre fast-run, speedy-dance combo thing that words simply cannot describe.

They ended with a little downward dog.

And finally, they made their way to the boardwalk and we began our ascent back to the playground to collect our stuff and head home in the fading light of day.

And what a day it was!

Man!

My cup definitely runneth over!