Repose: Word for Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Donna at Garden Walk Garden Talk has chosen the word Repose for this week's "Word for Wednesday" word inspiration. 

Every other week, Donna posts a word that needs to be expressed in some way using photographs of things in our garden.    

This week, I interpreted the challenge in a very literal way, for lying in my garden is a sweet little girl who spends sunny afternoons reposing under the sand cherry tree and indulging in her favorite pastime - reading.

Shortly after our marriage, Steve and I were reminiscing about how we spent our summers when we were children.  I told him that one of  my favorite things to do was to lie on the grass under a tree and read.  Not long after that, he spotted a cement cast of this figurine at the garden shop and he surprised me with it.  

I was incredibly touched by his thoughtfulness.  The little girl was about a foot long, petite but detailed, and I loved it.  At the time, we were building our very first cottage bed together and I set her in the bed where she nestled among the wood violets.

The following year, we hired a landscaper to begin work on the hardscape in our garden.  I came home from work one day to discover that one of the workmen had driven over the little girl with a piece of heavy equipment and shattered her.   I was distraught.   I'm very sentimental and the little figurine meant a lot to me.  Steve promised to get another one and over the summer, we hunted for a replacement in vain. 

Fast forward two years.  We were strolling through the garden department at Home Depot one evening when Steve spotted the very same figure lying on a shelf next to some pots of plants,  out of easy reach.  The figurine was a much larger version of the original cement one and much heavier, as it was cast in bronze.  

I thought the price tag of this larger and most impressive version of the original would be a deal breaker so I was more than a little surprised when one of the customer service clerks climbed up on a ladder and took the figure down from her perch and carried her to our car.  Steve said he couldn't pass her up, no matter the cost. What a sweetheart!  I love the figurine and she reposes in a place of honor in the front of our main cottage garden.

Today she reposes among the ivy, under the sand cherry tree, between two favorite roses, Lady Elsie May and Macy's Pride. 

On a slightly different note, I couldn't help but note the other day that when it comes to actually reposing, our four Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have elevated it to an art form. 

From L to R, Emily Rose (ruby, age 7 years), Elizabeth Rebecca (black and tan, age 13-1/2 years), Katherine Hepburn AKA Katie Cuddles (Blenheim, age 2 years), and Spencer Tracy AKA Toughie (tricolor, age 5 years)

Please drop by Donna's blog, Garden Walk, Garden Talk, to join in her Word for Wednesday meme!