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adashelbysgirlfriend · 4 years

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A Taste for Something Younger - Polly Grey Headcannon

Omg I love the Ada roommate headcanon! Could you do the same for Polly? Maybe with a woman a little older/same age as Ada (because we accept age gaps in this household) and her and Polly actually get together in the end? I'd die for that ( @vikingsxf )

this idea gave me a big gay hard on and honestly I'm so glad you had it; Polly doesn't get enough love. Ive gone for a younger (Ada age) reader because we definitely support a healthy age gap relationship and i just want to pretend its me who's with polly so. ALSO THIS IS A BIT SMUTTY JUST A LITTLE BIT BUT JUST A WARNING OKAY BABES

you and Ada had been friends since she started at the library

you both had a lot in common and she would tell you about her crazy relatives which always kept you entertained

obviously you had no clue that the Ada Throne you knew was actually thee Ada Shelby

when you finally do meet her brother in one of his unannounced visits to her flat its a massive shock that your besties family are the notorious Shelby's

she brings you out to meet the other brothers and John and Arthur both take a liking to you

when Finn tells Polly about Adas new friend from the city who is breaking hearts all over Birmingham she doesn't really have much to think

i mean it wouldn't be the first time the shelby boys lost their heads over a girl (especially dumb and dumber) and it probably won't be the last

but when she gets the pleasure of meeting you she can't help but understand why the lads lost their heads

you're stunning, not just physically

you're mind is almost too wise for your years

“you've got an old soul”

“thank you, Mrs Gray”

“its Miss, and call me Pol”

you're around a lot

you help in the office with the other women and come for drinks when Tommys in a good mood and feels like having the gang out

Polly’s sass making an impression

you're really intimidated by her because she's just this all knowing mature lady who is also really stunning

she invites you and ada over to have a girly evening

you literally don't want to go

anxious as hell

i feel like Polly is one of those people that gives off this no bullshit vibe, so you're scared to even chat to her just incase you say the wrong thing

dressing to impress by buying a new outfit and feeling like a fool for it

its the first thing Polly notices when she sees you

“you look ravishing don't you”

literally blushing all over

stumbling on your words

Ada has no clue whats going on and is so confused

maybe even a little jealous? why are you swooning over her auntie so much

Ada gets a surprise phone call and has to leave and you are wanting to leave with her but Polly all nah stay

this is the (best) WORST CASE SCENARIO PEOPLE

ALONE WITH POLLY

in her HoUSE

getting drunk to hide the fear but then also getting loose lipped

chatting absolute beans with her and she can't stop laughing at you

Because she loves that you're a bit scared of her but seeing a more bold side of you kinda turns her on

the drinking night becomes a weekly thing

you start to relax into Polly presence

seeking comfort in your time in her home

Ada doesn't even get an invite anymore

getting drunk together and her listening while you babble on about literally the most random topics ever

you get two whiskies in and start telling her all the facts you know about giraffes or the fall of the Berlin wall

and she just loves to sit and watch you

insane tension

a lot of staring

touching but nothing that would cross the friendship line, flirting with it though

her doing you makeup and telling you about the wild things she's done

that almost so close you could kiss but without the kiss tension when she's in your face putting your lipstick on

she says you look good in red, which you don't believe but at this point she could tell you you looked good in a teletubbie costume and a bitch would be dressed head to toe as Lala

she sees you start to push your comfort zones and she loves it

the new found confidence makes her horny as hell

Jealous Ada is more jealous when she sees you walking round in Polly’s shade of lipstick

“she must really like you to let you borrow that” - but its LACED IN GAY ANGST BECAUSE WTF HOW DID HER AUNT STEAL YOU

i feel like you make the first move

which isn't something you or Polly expected

like you've both been drinking all night and for some reason you start doing vodka shots

and this is the good shit vodka were stalking russian standard pissed off your tits shit love

and you watch her neck those shots like she's getting paid by the hour

and you just

walk stumble right on over there and fall into her lap

grab that sexy face in both hands and give her the softest kiss she's ever had in her life

it feels like her first kiss ever

which is saying something because you betcha that womans had a lot of kisses

polly doesnt know how to respond she's SHOOK

she doesn't even close her eyes she's like

literally frozen in shock

pulling straight back

whoops

suddenly all that drunk confidence is gone and you're hit with that crippling anxiety you get when you've done something wrong and been caught for it

Polly grabbing a fist full of your hair and pulling you back down

now she's KISSING YOU AND OH LORD

passion

she's not even clumsy when she's drunk like you are this woman is EXPERIENCED

lip biting oh my christ

not that pussyass nibbling but actual biting

and tongue

and i mean after that loves theres no going back really is there

finding your confidence again or maybe just horniness and drifting your hand under her skirt

your newfound confidence surprises her but she refuses to let you know that because hello she's Polly fucking Gray

“dont start something you can't finish, little dove”

“do you want me to stop?”

“i didn't say that”

this is the START OF SOMETHING NEW

leaving her panting and sweating, lipstick smudged and clinging to the arms of the chair

i mean once it happens once its a common occurrence loves

not that either of you are complaining

not just sex but dates in her living room by the fire

walks together arm and arm

nobody really thinks to much of seeing her and you together, either assuming you're just one of the boys girlfriends or that you're her niece or something

and they couldn't be more wrong but their ignorance is bliss

she loves how young you make her feel

and you love how much she takes care of you

i feel like maybe she's a little nervous of baring all to you; physically and mentally

her body is slightly more mature than yours, things aren't as new and shiny as yours may be; i feel like she’d take some reassurance maybe before she knew that you wouldn't just leave her for someone your own age

not that Polly is one to doubt her self worth but she feels like maybe she's just a phase for you

you wouldn't want her any other way though; you love her body and lets be real we all do too

she takes even longer to be open about her memories and past

i feel like she slowly but surely reveals more and more about her private life until she can finally trust you with the complete story

the rest of the shelbys know better than to question Polly on her personal choices; but they are happy to see the carefree woman they remember from when they were young

even salty Ada can see the happiness you bring out in her, although she doesn't want to admit it to herself

Polly buys lingerie for you all the time

being bratty and flashing your bra strap to her in public places

or grabbing her hand and running it under your dress until she can feel the lace of your underwear when you're both out in the Garrison

she has this “wait until i get you home” look that you'll do anything to provoke

she teases you until you beg for her to let you finish as punishment

“you see what you get for being naughty, y/n?”

she likes it when you ride her face, because although Polly is still in control she likes to put you in a position of power

and she likes to be able to see all of you when you're close to the edge

angry sex, because lets be real Polly can be a snappy little bitch and when you both get angry what better way is there to solve the issue than rough lesbian sex

she loves your smile

and your giggle

it makes her feel like a teenager all over again

nobody really understands how you put up with such a intimidating, dominating woman everyday but they don't see cuddly Polly who likes to be little spoon

she does her very best to keep you out of the family business and always will because you're one of the only people on earth Polly couldn't live without

you often joke about how Polly would just move in after you but she knows that after you there would be nobody else for her

“without you my little doll, i couldn't be me”

lots of lap sitting

hair stroking

the sweetest kisses; she tastes of cherry and whisky

she says you're like pink gin, sweet tasting and extremely intoxicating

Polly had given up on love until she found you, and now she's got you best believe she will spend the rest of time she has on earth making sure she keeps you

#polly gray #polly shelby #polly gray x reader #Polly Gray imagine #polly shelby x reader #polly gray headcannon #polly gray smut #peaky blinder headcanon #peaky blinder imagine #Peaky Blinders #peaky blinders smut #thomas shelby #Arthur Shelby #John Shelby #Ada Shelby #i feel a bit dirty now #and gay #and wet

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summerspn · 4 years

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Gilmore Girls

Lorelai Gilmore

Witty, carefree, hardworking, intelligent, & fun. Lorelai is loveable in many ways but she can also be irresponsible, very selfish & a commitment-phobe.

Lorelai hasn’t changed at all over the years. The lack of evolution is actually disappointing.

In the first few seasons I found her charming but later I found her selfish & annoying. I think that’s because she never takes responsibility for her actions & everyone always loves her. Sometimes it reaches almost Mary Sue or cult-like levels. She can do no wrong in the eyes of almost every single character except her parents...which is probably why she gets annoyed with them. She resents the fact they don’t worship her the way the town does.

Even Luke gets annoyed at her a lot but then gives in, smiles & then looks like he’s over it. He’s one of the few people to call her out on her ridiculous or selfish behaviour but then let’s it go.

She always gets her own way. He even said in Year in the Life that he’ll never leave no matter how bad she treats him....Was that supposed to be romantic? It’s actually sad, like an abused spouse sticking it out. Though I think it was likely just the word choice used. I get that Amy Sherman Palladino was trying to showcase Luke’s loyalty but there were better ways...

Through the entire series Lorelai has a love for gimmickry & silly rants. Sometimes it was cute & other times I just wanted to tell her to “Stop interrupting people!”. By the end of the series I wanted to tell her to shut up- mainly because her little ‘amusing’ rants were ill timed & often made her sound like an idiot.

Lorelai grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth & she resented her parents for that. Once she became pregnant at sixteen she didn’t make any effort to plan for her (and baby Rory’s) future. Yet we see in the flashbacks that she was still annoyed at her parents. They were scrambling to try to make the best of the situation & she was annoyed with them for it.

Lorelai was ungrateful then...ungrateful when they arranged for a nanny to help after she gave birth...and ungrateful for everything afterwards.

There’s a lot of questionable behaviour that Lorelai does. Some can be attributed to the fact she was a teenager at the time - like dismissing Christopher’s marriage proposal. She loved him but said no. Not a mistake exactly but she still pushed him away - which I think was a bad move. She should have talked to him about finding a way to keep him involved in Rory’s life.

Christopher was pushed away & being immature he felt they were better off and he kept his distance. What is questionable is that never, in all the years growing up did Lorelai tell him to grow some balls, man up & see his daughter more. She would have been broke & should have asked for some money to help with daycare etc.

The only reason Lorelai didn’t ask for money or more involvement was pride, pure & simple. She wanted to say she did it all ‘alone’, to feel superior to how her parents did things.

Later, even when Christopher does start to take more responsibility as a father, she says things that sounded very passive aggressive. Like she didn’t want him to have a better relationship with Rory. So it’s a catch 22, a no win situation where there was really was no way for Christopher to fix things.

They say early on that Christopher did weekly phone calls & the occasional visit. Not great but not terrible either. But Lorelai acts like he is a bad father & yet still constantly flirts with him. What is that?!

It’s a complete mind fuck.

That’s probably a big reason I started to like Christopher by the end. He always did as Lorelai wanted, respecting her wishes while trying to have a relationship with his daughter & do his own thing. All contradictory but so is how Lorelai treated him. She basically jerked him around.

You shouldn’t do that regarding your child’s father. Be clear & set boundaries... that’s important but she did the opposite all the time & there was zero evolution with that over the years.

Even later, when Christopher made more effort to see Rory, and when they had a good relationship, Lorelai chose to keep a very big life decision from him. Rory didn’t tell him she dropped out of school because she was being selfish right? Well as a co-parent, that then fell to Lorelai. She should have called Christopher and told him their daughter dropped out of college & is acting out of character.

Even if he couldn’t change her mind, he should have known. But who knows, maybe she would have listened? Sometimes it’s easier to listen to people you’re not talking to every day (like how Jess was able to talk some sense into her).

But Lorelai deliberately kept quiet about Rory’s dropping out of school & her arrest. Why keep it from him? He would have been worried.

The only thing I can think of is the Lorelai somehow thought it didn’t matter to him, which just shows she wasn’t paying attention & was being selfish.

When Christopher happily agrees to take over paying for Yale, both Rory & Lorelai keep it from Emily & Richard. It’s avoiding an awkward conversation but instead the elder Gilmores end up being embarrassed by having to deal with the financial mix up, thinking the school had made a mistake.

So Emily & Richard were embarrassed & probably had a very stressful & panicked reaction to make sure the tuition was covered. Richard said he had yelled at a woman out of desperation to make sure everything was settled. I personally would have been freaked if someone said school was paid for but wasn’t. I’d want to know there wouldn’t be any issues!

So think about it, the woman dealing with that had a really bad day because of it.

So Lorelai (whose job it was to tell her parents), was selfish again and it resulted in a lot of stress for others because she was avoiding telling her parents about the tuition.

Lorelai isn’t evil and sometimes she is a good partner. Like when Luke for some reason didn’t tell her about April for two months. She was upset but sticks by him.

She adjusts & tries to deal. It was refreshing to see. Her & Luke have chemistry & the banter is good but even by the end of the series they still don’t communicate very well. She still acts like he should be her servant a lot of time because she’s pretty bossy.

In Year in the Life they have zero communication skills & it’s pretty sad considering they’ve been together for 10 years. But again everything is always about her. Lorelai keeping therapy from him, wanting to meet with Paris about IVF when Luke clearly is just...stunned. It’s just baffling.

During her marriage & rough patches with Christopher Lorelai insists she loves him. I think she loved him as a teenager & as an adult loves the idea of him but she always strung him along which is not exactly a loving trait. So I actually liked when she married Christopher I just thought it should have included Rory & her parents (even if spontaneous).

What made me upset is that one minute she’s telling Christopher she loves him then she’s taking to Luke again. Christopher - her HUSBAND- tells her he’s not comfortable with the relationship & she completely ignores his concerns.

When he suggested they buy a bigger house she was adamant they stay in her house (even though it was going to be too small for them, Gigi, Paul Anka & Rory when she visits). Christopher accommodates quickly....then sees more interaction between her & Luke & gets jealous.

Of course he does. He acts like a jerk but so does Luke & so does Lorelai. But we’re supposed to hate Christopher for that? Um, no.

Then Lorelai writes that personal reference letter about Luke for the custody battle & Christopher finds it. She kept it from him. Hearing the letter & seeing his reaction - to me - sounded very much like it was saying Luke was Rory’s father not Christopher. I can understand the hurt there.

Seriously, all Lorelai would have to do was tell Christopher she feels she owes it to Luke to write the letter. Be honest with him & it would have been a non-issue. But by hiding it like a 12 yr old, it gave the wrong message, that she had feelings for Luke still. And Christopher may be immature but he wasn’t an idiot.

The only really stupid thing he did, was pull away for those few days. I think Lorelai said it was less than a week. It was dumb & a dick move...but I also get it. That would be painful. You change your entire life, commit to the person you were in love with for 20 yrs, make a life with them & your child, only to see proof she wasn’t even trying to commit to you? That’s rough. Not an excuse but I get the anger there.

However, hearing the messages that Lorelai left him, it still sounds pretty weak like she wasn’t sure what she wanted. She didn’t put her husband first, she never offered to give up her ‘friendship’ with Luke. Tv shows always act like it would be unhealthy to give up an ex for their current partner. But no, giving up an ex is part of the commitment process...if it’ll make your spouse happy & prove your love, do it.

It shouldn’t be a question. Besides at that point Lorelai was barely taking to Luke anyways. But she didn’t want that & again put herself first. And many of her phone messages to Christopher were dancing around things.

She could have at that point, agreed to move to a new town together - which also would have proved her commitment & made him happy. She could have said ‘I love you & miss you but screw you for leaving me!’ It took her awhile before she finally said it & as soon as she did he came to his senses....but then saw Luke there, again.

And right after Lorelai wanted a divorce. No counselling, no talk of what boundaries they should have regarding Luke. Nothing. Lorelai just said it is what it is...being selfish. And Christopher just backs off like a scared & heartbroken boy.

What annoyed the crap out of me about the marriage was Lorelai still made all the decisions. She basically wanted Christopher as a roommate only. No thought about what a marriage should be or what they wanted from the marriage.

That, and the fact Emily was offering her advice but Lorelai never took it. She never once asked her mom for help...and Emily liked Christopher so she would’ve helped in any way she could. Lorelai knew this but didn’t even try.

Then once the marriage is over, before the big celebration party, Lorelai waits to tell her parents. Her mother spent money on a brilliant party...giving no thought to how that would make her mother look or feel. Wedding-party talk with her mom was important to Emily because she missed her only daughter’s wedding but Lorelai didn’t care.

Then there are instances where Lorelai is just being immature & makes things tough for her parents as an adult. She constantly whines about Friday night dinners, rarely told her parents she loved them or cared for them. Her love was conditional.

When her dad needed his meds her mom was clearly implying that she needed someone to pick them up.

Lorelai was toying with her, playing games about who can pick them up. Playing around when Emily was stressed. I don’t know about you but if I see my mom stressed out I want to help. She could have just said ‘I’ll pick it up’ though she does later, after jerking her around first.

There are times we clearly see Emily trying to make Lorelai feel better. When they were bonding over taxes, Emily tells her it’s not horrible & that she’ll be okay. It’s a complicated relationship so Emily later thanks her for helping but is also upset & grieving the thought of not having Christopher as a son-in-law anymore. So Emily points out how much money was thrown away on the party, so what? Lorelai acted like her mother was bad for doing that but wouldn’t you be upset if you spent tens of thousands of dollars for nothing? I would!

Lorelai was ungrateful & spoiled.

As much as some people hate season 7 I think there are some really good moments in the series. Especially showing Lorelai’s character. At one point T.J. calls her too much drama...and he’s right! When Rory disrespects people Lorelai never calls her out on it. She jerks both Christopher & Luke around.

An episode near the end of the series, Rory , Lorelai & Emily go to the wedding of the old owner of the Independence Inn, Maya. The entire episode Lorelai is completely oblivious to how her mom feels. When Rory spells it out for her Lorelai tried to be gentle & reassure her mom she didn’t lose her. It was nice to see.

But the next episode it was like Lorelai went right back to treating her poorly so Emily keeps her at arms length.

In season 7 though we see that Lorelai accepted Logan which was a big step. She also agreed to keep seeing her parents after Rory graduates, which is big. So there were a few things that weren’t bad & were improvements but at the same time, with all her whiny & passive aggressive behaviour, I wouldn’t say she evolved at all.

I did find it strange the entire town wanted to go to Rory’s graduation from Yale. Was this supposed to be funny?? Personally I thought it was dumb. Lorelai should have at that point told them to back off. A wasted opportunity. It could have shown some evolution regarding the town’s unhealthy idol worship of both Lorelai & Rory. But nope it was just Lorelai dancing around it, not wanting to set boundaries again.

I think Lorelai is very selfish as you can tell. She’s always jerking people- mainly her love interests- around. Max, Luke, Christopher, even that guy Alex (she dated briefly) she was back & forth on.

When she gave birth to Rory she made some mistakes. That’s understandable as is how immature & selfish she was. However, by the start of the series she never evolved. Ever.

Even when she goes back to school & gets her business degree - which is big life accomplishment...she still acts unprofessional on the phone at work & with vendors. Sure she had some funny conversations and all but she’s 32 in season one. Then she acts exactly the same in season 7 - at 39...both professionally & personally. Then Year in the Life was supposed to be 10 years later so she’s 49.

She & Luke still didn’t get married. No other kids, zero communication. Ugh I really wished the time jump could have been used better. All it would have taken were a few family photos & like ONE scene where Luke & Lorelai are in bed reading to their 3 yr old twins or something. Could have been cute!

It also would have shown Lorelai’s growth by giving up the house to get a bigger one for everyone (it would have proven her commitment to Luke & the family too). But what can one expect from the train wreck that is Year in the Life?

I’m a big fan of seeing characters grow & evolve. So it annoys me when I see a fun character like Lorelai, stuck as a selfish spoiled brat. I may have liked her more if she ended up friends with her mom or being more strict with Rory...something. Wasted opportunities with her.

To put it plainly I was so-so about Lorelai when I was younger but now as an adult I don’t like her. But she did have some great lines!

The actress who plays her, Lauren Graham is perfect though! Just amazing. Not sure how she could have remembered all those lines, talk a mile a minute & make it feel like her emotions are genuine. Takes real talent!

#tv #tv serials #entertaining #tv shows #love #alexis bledel #gilmore girls #lauren graham #keiko agena #jared padalecki #netflix #luke x lorelai #zoeys extraordinary playlist #the handmaid's tale

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wendyimmiller · 5 years

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A Spring for the Ages; Endurance, Rainfall, Beauty, Raw Nerves, Blind Panic, and Two Cases of the Bends

Yeah, that’s about describes my Spring. Yours?

It all started with a misguided nod to appear on our Township’s Garden Tour. Did this sometime last Winter. I’d been drinking. When our garden didn’t appear on the first draft of the flyer, did I take it as a sign? Nope. A smart person would have laid low and slipped out of that commitment like it was a time share they’d been sold, but not me. Being the same impaired idiot who had agreed to the idea in the first place, I reminded the Township.

The best image I could find of my garden in March.

The second prettiest March pic of my garden.

3 of 3 of March photos. Sea of mud. Just enough life emerging to keep one from hijacking a bus.

Our garden had been on the tour several years ago but the intervening years have had their share of drama with the most carefree and joyous parts of our lives and all but the most basic of garden maintenance finding themselves shoved to the side like a road killed raccoon in the path of a snowplow. But, you know hope springs eternal. It was a new year, a different time, and I told myself, “Hey, this will be fun. And it will motivate you to make some of those improvements you’ve been thinking about.” Yep. That’s what I told myself.

Sloppy selfie.

Of course, it did do that. Just like it almost killed me. For whatever delusional reason, I failed to factor into the decision-making process that my life would remain just the same as it’s always been—a lurching, noisy, rickety, breathlessly busy, confused and confusing, poorly conceived extended round of experimental performance art liberally embellished with unpleasant surprises at inopportune moments. Somehow, I had forgotten that.

Spring comes in increments, and little things sometimes distract you momentarily from the overall ugliness and all the work that must be done.

Meh. Ugh.

And there is nothing like a looming garden tour to sober you right up real fast. First walk-through after you’ve agreed to such a thing and, bam, there you are–clear-eyed, stammering, and horrified, seeing your garden from the viewpoint of carloads of judgmental strangers. Make this walk-through like I did in March–that most hopelessly depressing, mercilessly ugly, butthole-with-a disease month of the year–and it’s the horticultural equivalent to waking up with some person you hooked up with at a dive bar deep into the early morning hours of the previous night. So you do the only things that come to mind. First you drink. Then you cry. Finally, you beseech the Almighty for an asteroid to come screaming out of the sky and smash all your years of bad ideas, lousy plant choices, inexplicable design decisions, ill-advised gardening practices, plastic containers, fake flamingos, and scuzzy gazing balls into tiny burning fragments that all fall on top of your neighbor’s boat.

Well, okay.

And a late night of work rewarded by a decent scene in the fading light.

But you know from long experience that God has a very spotty record of answering your prayers and that your luck isn’t good enough to guide a comet in on its own, so you do the only thing you can: you go outside and garden like hell. Like some nervous dervish all ramped up on speed. Rinse and repeat, you’re doing this from mid-March to May 19th, every night after work until it’s too dark to tell garlic mustard from poison ivy and every weekend from the crack of dawn to long after dark. Dehydrated most of the time, of course. And you have to fit this in and around record rainfall, a pair of weekend trips you’d committed to previously, and a bunch of appointments and presentations that wind up eating 15 weeknights and about six weekend days.

Neither aminal was much help. Martin, The Heart of Darkness, just distracted us with his constant plotting of our doom.

And Zaku, the blind old dog, kept himself busy by walking on every perennial just as it went into bloom.

I won’t go into every gory detail about every dumb mistake, disturbing discovery, and newfound deep disappointment, but I will tell you, as an example, about removing my old nursery hoop house. It had stood for years, looming, rusting, and listing prominently in the background of every otherwise scenic garden view and photograph. It had to go and it did. Big job. Cut my hands repeatedly on unseen metal burs, but, except for having to pull old landscape fabric from under Pompeii-like strata of soil, it fought its demise with a little less resistance than expected.

The old hoop house/ship wreck had earned its place in the next life.

I thought I’d experience an emotional moment at its loss. I’d learned a lot growing plants back there, reared loads and loads of rare and favorite plant material, some of which bought favor and friends when I shared them with gardeners and horticulturists I admired. And, in fact, I was overwhelmed with an emotion when it was gone. Pure euphoria. I had no idea how much I’d come to hate that thing. It’s removal felt better than playing hooky.

Of course, the best time to return to veggie gardening after a 27 year hiatus is in the middle of the rushiest spring rush that ever lived.

But that joy was not long for this world. Not when I was confronted by that big blank weedy place where the hoop house had lived. Not as ugly as it had been, but still ugly enough to give carloads of judgmental garden tour strangers a lot to talk about. So I laid waste to the weeds and built raised beds for vegetables, doing my damnedest to make them look better than almost all of those other raised beds for vegetables I’ve seen. Several trips to Home Depot for wood and hardware, truckloads of soil harrowingly wheel-barrowed along a bumpy and narrow path around the swimming pool, and a last-minute scattering of straw in the paths, and, son of a…, it actually looked just like I’d hoped: not quite as ugly as those other vegetable beds I’ve seen.

More night gardening yields an okay shot with a Pixel II. Great camera. Terrible phone.

After about half a dozen big projects like this and hundreds of little ones, we were about two weeks out from the tour and I started feeling a little better. You might even say confident. Perhaps a bit cocky. May had come, things had greened up, and all the plants I’d forgotten I had were reappearing, covering ground, screening ugliness, and some even went into bloom.

The mossy step project. A slippery slope of grassy mud that spilled down into the backyard was deemed too hazardous for old people, so old railroad ties from the hoop house were re-purposed into stairs. Only the last one was too high, so a mossy step was conceived and somewhat successfully executed, but it was one of many time-consuming ad hoc projects, and proved in the end almost as slippery as the grassy mud.

Heady in this moment, I heard these words leave my mouth, cross through air, and go into my son’s ears, “Hey, why don’t you have your (upcoming) wedding in our garden?” Whoa. I knew my mistake immediately and wanted nothing more than to suck those words right back out of the universe and into my chest, but, alas, they’d been said. And they’d been heard. And Tom seemed excited by the idea.

Despite record rainfall, plant life somehow still emerged itself out of March’s primordial ooze.

He and his fiancee had been planning their June 1st wedding as a guerrilla ceremony, to be held surreptitiously at a small, backwater Cincinnati Park that overlooked the river. This way they could avoid notifying the park district, the associated bureaucracy, and the rental payment. While we all thought looking out for the cops would lend a certain urgent element of adventure to the event, but it also meant parking would be difficult and conditions for our older loved ones could prove life-threatening if the rain didn’t let up and the grass didn’t get cut.

The open little glade that seemed just right for a wedding.

A fawn found in the garden the morning of the wedding was perceived as a sign of fertility.

Long story short, we hosted the wedding, and it’s mind-blowing the vast amount of space that exists between “garden tour worthy” and “wedding ready.” May 19th to June 1st, there I was again, out in the yard, gardening like a mofo. Literally, and I mean literally, 3:15 PM day of the wedding, guests in the yard, and I’m dashing between them, head to foot in filth, trying to get inside for a quick shower in time for the 4:00 PM start.

Mother and son the day before.

But, gotta tell you, weeks of rain and gray skies opened up that afternoon to a glorious blue sky with billowing white clouds that towered like mountains in the sun. And, the wedding was perfect! A sweet, happy, beautiful couple, lovely self-written vows, pretty bridesmaids, and, hell, even the groomsmen looked good enough in their tuxes and all lined up in a row. And the garden? Well, it was far from perfect, but it strutted its stuff knowing it had never ever looked better. It made a splendid backdrop for the wedding and the photos.

The happy bride and her loving father. Laying that runner with filthy hands was the last job I did.

The ceremony,and a hodgepodge of anything I could buy in bloom and stuff into the bed in the foreground. Background held down by big leaf magnolias.

Afterwards, we all adjourned to the Irish Heritage Center for a night of delirious fun and celebration.

Michele and I, partying like people a fraction of our ages and having the time of our lives!

Back home, joyous, exhausted, and plunging straight into illness.

Next day, with all that we could do done, my wife Michele and I both woke up sick as can be. She had a sore throat and congestion. I had full-on aches and pains. No matter the symptoms, I knew we both had the bends because we had decompressed too hard.

Never was any good at container design, but this year I raised my game a little.

Now, still a little buzzed on this meager success, I’m already thinking about signing up for next year’s garden tour. It seems I just have this need for high-stakes, stress, and tales of adventure with happy endings And I’ve never been any good at learning from my mistakes.

In almost 40 years together, I’ve never seen her so beautiful.

A Spring for the Ages; Endurance, Rainfall, Beauty, Raw Nerves, Blind Panic, and Two Cases of the Bends originally appeared on GardenRant on June 18, 2019.

from Gardening https://www.gardenrant.com/2019/06/a-spring-for-the-ages-endurance-rainfall-beauty-raw-nerves-blind-panic-and-two-cases-of-the-bends.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

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turfandlawncare · 5 years