Knowing what I now know, I must re-evaluate the fairy tale Rapunzel. I must assert that it's a cautionary tale from a gardener's perspective. As I learned recently, rapunzel is the old German name for the creeping bellflower that is taking over my front flower bed. It's also the leafy green that Rapunzel's mother craved during pregnancy in the original tale. Knowing how invasive it is, how hard it is to make it stop growing, I now believe that the girl in the tower with the unstoppable hair is a metaphor for that damnable weed. I might be persuaded that the evil witch is actually trying to quarantine the invasive plant, and maybe she's not the bad guy after all. I haven't quite worked out all the details on the rest of the symbolism, but I think I'm on to something here.
I did almost no gardening last year, while every single calorie of energy I had to spend was burned up climbing the mountain to build the cabin. It was with great pleasure that I went out today to pull weeds and trim back a lavender bush that had mostly died on top. I went out twice, first to sit near the lavender and clear a large cookie-sheet-sized area of rapunzel and dandelion. It took half an hour to clear just that much. I took a break, and then went back and gave a little love to the Unless garden. The problem there was lemon balm. Who would have thought, planting a member of the invasive mint family in a soft flower bed would be a problem? (Answer: I should have but didn't.) This time I devoted about an hour to cleaning up a one foot by four foot span. The upside was it smelled fantastic, pulling out mounds of lemon balm. I uncovered the hen and chicks that was completely obscured, a nandina that is struggling mightily to survive, and something that sort of looks like another lavender (but not quite--I'll have to watch this to see what it actually is). There was grass scattered throughout too, especially hiding in the Stella d'Oro daylilies. The good news is I don't appear to be suffering for spending that much time on the ground (usually that makes me ache uncontrollably for days). After falling so far behind last year, there is a ton to be done down here at the Park. We won't be able to access the cabin until the end of June at least, so I have time to devote to tending my gardens.
Tomorrow is my first post-surgery physical therapy appointment. I'm looking forward to it. I was cleared by the surgeon to resume activity as I felt like it was appropriate, but this will be the chance to really test my range of motion in a controlled environment, with a professional who can tell me when to stop and when to keep pushing myself. She can also help me discover what's possible and what's unlikely to improve with my new body. I am finding that the dissolving coil that was put in place of the tumor, to mark where the radiation should go, is not the most comfortable of implants. I hope she can teach me how to manage the scar tissue building around it that seems to be growing like a weed inside of me.
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