Patty Harayda
Gardening, cooking, reading... welcome to my boring life
7.12.2025
Let's Talk Lilies
7.09.2025
Hydrangea Leaftier Infestation
7.07.2025
Rabbit Damage
7.04.2025
Early July Blooms
7.03.2025
Waiting on Some Garden Blooms
6.27.2025
Snap Peas
My Mom Died
April was rough. May was really rough. June is just kind of MEH.
My mom passed away on May 16. That was incredibly unexpected. My emotions have been all over the place since then. The sale of her house has stalled since I can't do anything until I've been appointed Personal Representative. That really sucks. Because now I really just want her house off my plate and gone - I truly don't want to be there anymore. It's no longer hers, I just hope that another family finds it and they fall in love with it and make it a home.
But I have to say, congestive heart failure is no joke. I'm absolutely positive that 65 years of smoking just wrecked her body. Her symptoms started last summer, which I think she hid and didn't want to tell me. At one point she had an endoscopy - the pictures showed so much cigarette tar on her insides. It was not good. And the water retention was insane - over a week the doctors pulled over 30 POUNDS of fluid from her body. When your heart isn't working properly, it takes a huge toll on your body.
Her new heart valve failed right in front of me. She went from talking normally to basically dead within an hour, and this happened at her scheduled doctor's appointment. Thank goodness we were at the hospital when this all happened. This is not the first time I've sat with someone dying in front of me so I knew what to expect. It's not like the person just falls asleep in front of you. When someone says "they died peacefully" I'm like no, they fucking gasped for air and were delirious for quite awhile before it actually happened. So it's traumatic for all.
And now that I'm not over at her apartment almost daily or talking to her on the phone, it's like I have this weird sense of guilt - like I should be taking care of her but I'm not. I've literally been going over to her house or doing something for her every week since we moved back her 17 years ago. That's a long fucking time of caretaking. She wouldn't ask my other siblings to help - just my brother for lawncare and basic house stuff until he moved out of state - so it was me that did literally EVERYTHING. I did grocery shopping, housework, donations, weeding, grabbed her mail every other day so she wouldn't have to walk to her mailbox, made her appointments for her, drove her everywhere. I didn't realize how much time that took up until a few weeks ago when I cleaned my house without being interrupted.
So I have a lot of emotions running through me. I'm supposed to meet my family on Saturday and I'm not ready to release my mom yet. I will gift my siblings their portions of her ashes but I'm keeping mine. I probably won't be ready for a long time. Maybe next year or the year after.
4.04.2025
Spring Break Fun in Colorado
3.24.2025
2025 Seed Starting
Over the last few days I decided to start seeds for a Garden Party in June. My PTO President suggested I host garden party and so that's what I'm doing! I'm going to have everyone put together an herb pot - I think I'm going to collect pretty pots from my Buy Nothing and maybe some plastic ones too. I gave away a few tables from my mom's house that I'm now half regretting - but not by much because everything that comes from her house smells like cigarette smoke (oh, we got paint estimates and it's THOUSANDS of dollars to paint her whole house!).
So... I started Lavender, Marjoram, Sage, Thyme, and a few other more woodsy herbs - those should be a few inches tall to go into the pots for planting so they should get a good head start for June. And then I will start more Basil, parsley, and cilantro closer to the date so they'll be ready too.
I'm planning on having snacks and bevvies. I'M SO EXCITED. I can't wait to plan more!
3.18.2025
Tough March - My Mom Has Health Problems
Unfortunately my mom has been having health issues since mid-February. She's in the hospital for a second time since February 8 and it's been really annoying that I can't do garden stuff as much as I would normally. For example - I just started seeds and I didn't have all the tomato seeds I wanted. I don't have sweet pepper seeds. I truly haven't had the time to stop and look through everything and so here I am... making do with what I have. That's how I grew up and I suppose we just won't have large slicing tomatoes this year. That's also fine. I think I saw I might have beefsteak tomato seeds but I'll have to check - I decided to do 10 hybrid Bliss tomatoes and so maybe I will circle back to the beefsteaks. It truly depends on how long I have to stay at the hospital.
We also moved my mom to assisted living several weeks ago so we're in the process of clearing and selling her house. That is so much work. If you have to clear an elderly person's home that stopped cleaning because they're in heart failure AND a smoker... you have my absolute sympathy and empathy. It's really tough to see and to deal with. And to clean up after.
AND I'm getting ready to start seeds at school with Kindergarten through 2nd grade.
AND I'm doing a schoolyard garden presentation on Friday.
So at this point... if I start anything else and they live... it will be a miracle.
But my mom has congestive heart failure and that's what happens after you've been a smoker for 65 years. Today I got to see pictures of her esophogus and stomach for possible bleeding and holy shit. The amount of dark black and brown tar from smoking is absolutely amazing and disgusting and awful and it's a true miracle she's still alive kind of a thing. So I'm happy to be there for her and I love her so I don't mind putting my stuff aside so I can be there for my mom. So just as an FYI - don't smoke and stop smoking because it's not good for you.
I'm going to try and post some photos of the seeds I've been planting and what's happening under my grow lights but I can't be certain of my schedule this week. I'll try my best.