Finishing Ellen's Bulb Garden, Part the Third

The huge, gorgeous bulbs for the Ellen L. Bliss Memorial Bulb Garden arrived just before our Quehanna backpacking trip. So the day before we backpacked, I planted two parts of the bulb garden, one a long line of tulips in the meadow, the other part in Barb's Butterfly Garden. On Saturday, after we got back, I planted the third part.

This part is mostly daffodils, two kinds. One is called sinopel, and it is green and white. The other one is called riot, and of course it is red and white. The remaining eight giant hyacinth bulbs, a mix of colors, went around the front edges. I think I need more pink.

Tiny Tiger was my project manager, and he is so good at it. Everything fell together perfectly. You may see two pictures of Ellen and me together. Yep, that's a younger, thinner, blonder version of me.

We were office-mates and very good friends, though I did not see her much in recent years. Between the photos are three cranes Ellen made. Her friend sent those to me with Ellen's ashes.

At this point, we were nearing the home stretch in our planting and T. Tiger was overcome with emotion. He put his sunglasses on so we couldn't see the tiny tear that dripped from his eye as we placed the last of Ellen's ashes in. That's it, my Bootie. All done. You can rest now.

I should tell you more Ellen stories here, but I find I can't, and I'm sorry about that. I am choking, I've got sawdust in my throat, and I can't see, as I toss the last clod of dirt in. Oh, God, this is hard.

Our song for the day: the Eagles, with Already Gone.