Spring is almost here....

As I am sitting here enjoying my morning coffee in the diningroom, I can't help but feel excited at the promise of spring. I am itching to get outside and check on the garlic I planted last fall....the whole time nervously planting and turning around to make sure a bear wasn't creeping up behind me....but that garlic is symbolic of a long road to finding my home.

Many years ago my husband and I rented an old house with the most spectacular views of Duck Cove Beach. Duck Cove was my stomping ground when I arrived in Canada and I love being next to the sea.

At the time we had been struggling with infertility for seven years and we had been told that there wasn't any hope. So, Andy had almost finished school, we were in debt, and I was miserable because I was trying to come to grips with never experiencing motherhood. I was however busy with my new job as a hotel manager and training new staff and opening new hotels for the company.

When I would get to stressed or frazzled, I would slip home and garden. I might weed a flower bed or plant some seeds....or one of my favourites was attacking the beds that were on the backside of the house overlooking the water. From spring to fall I watched these odd plants growing that were so cool and smelled delicious....I figured they were garlic but I was such a new gardener I couldn't be sure. But, I nurtured them, pulled all the weeds away and watched them grow and produce garlic. I enjoyed this so much that I said to myself at the time that when we found the home we would settle in, I would plant my own garlic and hopefully have it forever.

Well, it only took 14 years and four houses later to know that I am here and settled for a long time. This year I hopefully will harvest my first crop of garlic....If I am really lucky, maybe I can find a sunny spot to try growing roses.