Survey #157 Response from Em
| Which of the following growing things or green spaces are under your care? |
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| If you selected “Other” above, please elaborate: | dormant plants kept inside for the winter | ||||||||||
| What lawn or garden chore do you find the most difficult, challenging, tedious, unpleasant, etc., and why? | My flower border is most challenging to care for. With the landlord's blessing, I put several thousand dollars worth of perennial flowers from out family homestead along the edge of the apartment building. Then, a smoker, who also uses a lot of insecticide and keeps the windows open year-round, moved into the apartment beside the border. The fumes from that apartment make me very, very sick, so I cannot give the border the attention it needs. The same neighbor also does not like flowers. I worry that I will be forced to throw away my plants. Were that not the case, my container garden would be the most difficult because the hose isn't long enough to reach it, so water has the be hauled a bucket at a time unless I get out two additional (heavy) hoses, hook them up, water the pots, then unhook the hoses, coil them up, carry them to the garage, and put them away. Apartment life! | ||||||||||
| What’s your favorite thing to grow, and why? | My favorite thing to grow are the flowers and perennials that have been handed down in our family. The majority of them are crosses--one of a kind, not available on the market. They link me to all the special people and pleasant summers involved in collecting and propagating them over the decades--like a living scrapbook. | ||||||||||
| What emotions do you experience when you think about downsizing? | I want my life to go forward, not end. Downsizing to me means giving up on projects, plans, and dreams. I have things I kept because of the house they were supposed to go into, the lifestyle I was going to get to have, the art studio, room for a piano, a kitchen garden and flower bed, space for a dog, the attic retreat with a rocking chair and favorite books, the sewing nook with a big chair to curl up in and do handwork or mending.... However, I never got to have my own home while my husband was alive because of the location of his job. Now, I still want my home, but I fear that I am too old and too weak to manage a home alone. So, downsizing is admitting defeat. It says, "Okay, I give up. I will never have the life I spent my life working and saving toward. I have failed. I'm old. I'm alone." (no family) The worst part is that what I was saving toward was meant for the two of us. I had accepted that I would not get to have my home until he retired, but he died instead of retiring and living our our golden years together in the home I worked so hard to plan and save for. | ||||||||||
| When do you expect to downsize your living arrangements? | I don't want to downsize, but am faced with the reality that moving into a place that suits my desired lifestyle may be impossible at this point in my life. | ||||||||||
| How would you feel about having to give up 50% or more of your current possessions in a downsizing move? |
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| Complete this phrase: “Spring is _.” | Spring is hope. | ||||||||||
| Here’s your chance to ask Gayle and Ed any question you’re curious about. It need not be related to this survey’s topic(s). | I saw a free booklet on the website about controlling paper, however, I could not get it because I am already a subscriber. Is there a way for me to get it? | ||||||||||
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