daily prompt

Graveyard installed

~ MaryG ~ 22 Comments

I am happy to report that the young fellow we hired to install some new garden beds and a deer fence for my husband was successful. Matt was our “plow guy” last winter, but we discovered he also does landscaping (as many plow guys do). Matt brought along two actual children with him as helpers and they worked all weekend long. When I asked if the boys were his nephews or younger brothers, he said that they were just two industrious boys who asked for work. It turns out they were 14 and 15 years old. I have never seen boys that young work so hard. I was a bit worried about them, but the weather was perfect and they seemed fine. I brought out snacks a few times and my husband gave them each a cash tip.

Matt in the new garden area on Saturday morning
Here’s how it looked Saturday night
And here’s how it looked last night after they left—my husband entering the raised bed enclosure for the first time.
Does it remind you of anything??
I’m sorry, but to me it looks like a bunch of freshly dug graves 🤣
If we got more trick-or-treaters, I’d attempt to create a graveyard scene for Halloween. I mean, it would be PERFECT.
A blank slate for my husband to pursue one of his great loves (plants) in his upcoming retirement. You can see two of our fruit trees behind the raised beds, and the big clump of cannabis plants on the right. (They’re going to get moved inside the fence next season.)
If this were an actual family graveyard, I think I’d want to be buried in one of the big containers inside the deer fence. This big grave seems too exposed. It is slated to become a butterfly garden 🦋

So, back to the prompt (sort of):

What’s the kindest thing someone has ever done for you?

I think it was pretty darn kind of me to help make one of his retirement dreams a reality. (I found Matt and had the bright idea to contact him for this job.) Last weekend was supposed to be my Bucket List trip to Acadia National Park, which I canceled mostly because my husband was not feeling well enough to travel. (Weather would’ve been perfect for it too.)

I trust my kindness will be repaid in organic vegetables, pretty flowers and cannabis galore in the coming years. And I’m sure I’ll make it up to Acadia – eventually.

RIP Ozzy

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

I responded to this WordPress Daily Prompt almost two years ago by interviewing my husband about Jimmy Buffett, who had just died at age 76:

Interview someone — a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman — and write a post based on their responses.

Here’s that post:

An American Reacts to the Death of Jimmy Buffett

Welp, yesterday we learned that Ozzy Osbourne passed away at the exact same age as Jimmy Buffett—76. So, I decided to ask my “Generation Jones” husband (age 63) the same questions about Ozzy that I had asked him about Jimmy Buffett two years ago.

Question: You heard the news that Ozzy Osbourne has died at age 76. How did it make you feel?

Answer: Surprised. I didn’t know he had Parkinson’s and I had heard about the farewell concert two weeks ago (which was billed as the last time Black Sabbath would ever play together).

Question: What were your overall feelings about Ozzy?

Answer: I really liked Black Sabbath, but only with Ozzy. Together they were great. (Didn’t really like Ozzy on his own or Black Sabbath without Ozzy.) Iconic sounds. Ozzy’s voice and Tony Iommi’s guitar…there was nothing else like it at the time (early 70s). First started listening to Black Sabbath in junior high school.

(Tells me the whole story about how Tony Iommi’s fingers were severed in an industrial accident, which forced him to play the guitar an octave lower and make that incredible sound.)

We then listened to a couple of his favorite early 70s Black Sabbath songs: “Sweet Leaf” “Into the Void” “NIB”

He says that their 1978 album “Never Say Die” was the last album of theirs that he liked.

Question: What made him a cultural icon?

Answer: The Black Sabbath/Ozzy sound. They were the first ones. The low guitar, the slow riffs, Ozzie’s Voice. Influenced everything that came after. 

As an illustration of how truly different and awesome their sound was at the time, we looked at the Billboard Top 100 Hits of 1971. And I really got the point. I mean…I love Carole King, The Osmonds, The BeeGees, John Denver, etc…but you can see how Black Sabbath felt like the start of something entirely new and exciting to a lot of people—boys especially.

And then came the true revelation: my husband still listens to Black Sabbath all the time—even more than Led Zeppelin—especially in the gym.

It’s his jam.

Deadlifting 485 pounds

I guess Black Sabbath makes a better soundtrack for powerlifting than say… Taylor Swift. I get it!

Question: Would you say that they were a uniquely British band?

Answer: No. They were just completely different than anything else out there. 

Question: You’ve now read his obits, was anything a big surprise?

Answer: No. (Already knew the whole story of Sharon dragging Ozzy out of the gutter and resurrecting his career—way before “The Osbournes” TV show.)

Question: Did you ever know any other big fans?

Answer: We all listened to them in high school. (He has an older Boomer sister who introduced him to cooler music in the 70s. Meanwhile, I was listening to The Osmonds and the Bay City Rollers.)

Question: What do you think his legacy will be?

Answer: First answer: young people don’t listen to Ozzy anymore.

Upon research, we learned that certain subgenres of metal continue to cover Black Sabbath songs and even sound a lot like them.

RIP Ozzy.

Ozzy Osbourne in NYC in 1971