Remembering Tom

     Last week Tom would have been 68 years old, and every year on his birthday, I think of how much older I am now than he will ever be. Some years have passed with my noting his birthday with grief but no tears. This year hit me harder, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just that emotions are high now with so much going on in our country that is cause for alarm, situations that would have angered and saddened Tom as they anger and sadden me. I so miss the comfort we provided one another during tough times. I miss his humor, his puns (!), his intelligence and knowledge, his kindness, his love.  (Click on a photo for a clearer view--except for the first two photos)

on the C-6 Ranch with our son in Bryan, Texas (circa 1989 or 1990)

  

camping on Goat Island, Caddo Lake State Park, Texas

 

minus the beard

Belton, Texas (2006 or 2007) with the kids

Caddo Lake State Park, circa 1986

New Orleans marathon (2012?)

planting onions in our Arizona garden (2015 or 2016)

Lake District, England, 2006

building a kayak in Abita Springs, LA (circa 2013)

the shed Tom built at our home in Abita Springs, LA (I later painted it)

with our kids in Cloquet, MN, where we lived from 2003-2006

gathering plants for his aquariums, near Abita Springs, Louisiana

camping in Big Bend National Park, TX (1988)

overlook of Zion National Park, Utah (2009)

 

with our daughter at Cafe du Monde, New Orleans

among tomato plants in our Abita Springs, LA, garden

with out daughter at the University of Georgia (2010)

with our son, 2018

In Nova Scotia with me and a distant Acadian cousin

Mardi Gras in Abita Springs, LA

4th of July, Eagar, Arizona, 2016

at a nephew's wedding (2016)

Seattle, Washington (2017)

our Arizona garden (2016)

Tom's 8th and last marathon (Petrified Forest, AZ, 2016)

our last Christmas together (2018)

cooking at Christmas 2018

cooking at Christmas at our home in Eagar, AZ (2018)

Christmas 2018, Eagar, AZ

Christmas 2018, Eagar, AZ

one of the last photos of me and Tom (September 2019)

one of the last photos I took of Tom at our home in Eagar, AZ (July 2019)

Summer Urban Garden at Heart's End

 Click on a photo for better view

Sunburst Patty Pan squash

Sunburst Patty Pan squash 

Okra plants

Basil

(Mostly) native plants in Tom's memorial garden

Purple Coneflowers and Monarda in Tom's memorial garden

A  clay mask, made years ago by my son, overlooking the Mountain Mint

Swamp sunflowers behind a dead hedge of garden debris

Fig Tree between Fireworks Goldenrod and Bushy St. John's Wort

Narrow-leaf Mountain Mint

Bird bath (old barbecue pit) and Scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea)

lemon verbena, nasturtium,Thai pepper

Lemongrass and other herbs