2018 November Glinda’s Diva Day

Back in June 2018 when the Divas of the Dirt met at Karla’s garden, we Divas had been worried about Diva Annie, who was in post-surgical intensive care at the hospital. Over the next few months Annie moved from one facility to another as we all hoped for at least a partial recovery.

Instead of emailing photos of flowers in bloom or planning to get together, we were emailing and texting medical updates and photos of Annie as she tried her hardest to regain strength and mobility.

The summer was long and hot – officially the third warmest meteorological summer. Here’s a twitter clip from a National Weather Service guy. 

Most people had to water to keep plants, birds and wildlife alive. Rains arrived just in time to cancel Mindy’s planned September project day.

Mindy rescheduled her date for October but once again her project was rained out. Mindy wasn’t daunted - she had an alternate plan. Instead of meeting at Mindy’s house, the Divas who could come would go to the rehab facility and surprise Diva Annie with a group visit.

Annie was very weak, but seeing those loving faces brightened her day.

The rain continued no longer bringing welcome moisture but dangerous floods with collapsed bridges. A favorite Twitter account noted how quickly the Highland Lake reservoirs had risen. Officials opened floodgates on the Tom Miller and Mansfield Dams.

Silt from the flood waters overwhelmed the Austin Water filters and on October 22^nd Austin woke up to a boil order – city water could not be used for drinking, brushing teeth, cooking, etc. The order lasted until Sunday October 28^th.

Our rotating garden day schedule said that mid-November was Glinda’s turn for a work day. Although the floods had calmed down by then, things in the Diva world had not calmed down one bit. Annie did not seem to be getting better and was now in a skilled nursing facility. Diva Mattie was recovering from pneumonia.

On November 1^st Glinda asked if anyone would be interested in getting together for a day at her house. The flowers had responded to the rains. Fall Aster was past its prime but still blooming in the parkway.

The center front bed of Salvia madrensis and cannas was still beautiful.

Butterflies were cavorting in the Gregg’s mistflower and lantana. Whether or not any garden work was done, we needed to have lunch together and talk to each other in person. 

But the Divas had to be satisfied with photos of a blooming garden. A couple of days before the Divas met the weather changed (again!) and the temperatures dropped below freezing to 25°F before bouncing back into the pleasant zone. All the salvias, all the cannas, all the mistflowers were frozen – no more nectar for the poor butterflies! Apparently the main project would be cutting back frozen plants. 

Glinda and Oz were ready at 11 am with assorted doughnuts from Crown Donuts, Golden Kiwis and coffee. Karla and Sophia came. Mattie arrived with pup Barbie, followed by Mindy and Buffy. Annie could not be with us but the sweet rooster pitcher that she’d given to Glinda symbolized that she should have been with us.

We went outside where one big job would be to cut down the frozen Salvia madrensis, so glorious just a few days earlier.

The Fall Asters in the parkway were no longer wonderful and the cold snap had ended the long bloom of the hummingbird acanthus. Time to chop it all back.

Barbie found a sheltered spot on the grass and proceeded to bask in the pleasant weather

Oz snapped a photo of the Divas of the Dirt around 5pm – not lunch or dinner but a late afternoon repast.

Let’s zoom in and see what they had to eat:

For the main dish we had a chicken pasta salad with peas, red peppers, spinach, garlic, basil and long green fettucini noodles from Lakeline farmer’s market. The sides included tomato wedges, sweet potato crackers, zucchini slices, a green salad, smoked salmon and pub cheese.

We didn’t get a photo of the dessert but Glinda buys peaches every July from the Kiwanis Club’s benefit sale. 

She uses some of the peaches to make pies and then freezes a few, so she pulled a peach pie from her freezer. With December looming on the horizon, Glinda pulled out a variety of homemade cookies that were also in the freezer and offered them to the Divas. She had an ulterior motive - she needed the freezer space for Christmas cookie baking in December.

The front garden looked so much better with the frozen plants cut back. Plants like rosemary, iris and Texas mountain laurel would stay green through the winter adding texture and interest.

It’s unreasonable to expect a wildlife garden to look as neatly groomed as more sterile and conventional landscapes do – that would defeat its purpose since birds and butterflies and lizards and pollinators do not like tidy gardens! But once the Divas made the bed and parkway look respectable and cared for, the garden could blend into the surrounding neighborhood until spring arrived. Thank you, dear friends!
This post- 2018 November Glinda's Garden Day was written by Diva Glinda/AnnieinAustin for the Divas of the Dirt Blogspot website.