Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for November 11, 2022

Oy vey

Smooth move, just keep it under your hat. No one needs to know your secrete.

Oh, joy! More yard work… {:-p https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qixNg3-juJ0

A true English Garden doesn’t require any of that work annually.

So glad I put my garden to bed for the winter already, no more yard work until spring. The only reason to go into the garden now is to fill the birdfeeders..

Now let’s celebrate by going inside and getting in our nice warm bed!

Watching the newest season of The Crown on Netflix this week….there was one scene where Princess Margaret and her boyfriend are walking through a beautiful (what I assume was) and English Garden. Gorgeous.

That’s the way, Arlo! It is humoring her—and making her genuinely happy. That’s part of what makes Mr. and Mrs. Day . .

One year I planted a pounds of wildflower mix, about 15,000 seeds. Got a half-dozen flowers. Turned out my zone was different from just about every other area around me. Coastal hills are not coast or inland.

I’ve seen this movie before.

This is when the the spouse realizes that dementia had set in many many years ago, and they just never noticed…

Hardly rained this year and some darned weed took over the garden. It was in the 90s and I’m not suicidal, so I just let them grow. I think it takes a dozen gardeners to maintain an English Garden.

Yup. The smart husbands do this. They know happy wife, happy life.

All in the name.

Call it what you wish while doing whatever works.

Happy wife happy life.

Good thing she can’t read your mind right now. Actually, it’s a good thing that most wives can’t read their husbands’minds…..

In an alternate comic universe, Janis either never married or divorced Arlo early on, before having a child with him.

She went on to get the art degree she originally wanted, and enjoyed a successful career as an art director. Each man she dated was better than the last. Her life is creative and playful even with life’s challenges, and she has the garden and home of her dreams.

She rarely thinks of Arlo. When she does, she smiles at a few sweet memories, but mostly it reminds her that all her worst days since have been better than the ones she shared with Arlo.

Amicably divorced my “Arlo” a couple decades ago. And this has been my life since.

Not sure why Arlo goes through with this charade annually, when giving Janis what she wanted would have been so much less work.

Janis is smart and determined, though. A more likely scenario would be that she planted annuals as Arlo suggested the first year. Then at end of season sales and plant swaps, she built her English Garden over time.

She would have made friends with other gardeners in her area, and they tend to help each other.

Arlo could have been totally hands off with a beautiful yard to rest in, and a happy wife.

There’s even a no till process to create new flower beds that’s perfect for this time of year.

Instead of digging up the lawn, put newspaper over it and top that with soggy leaves.

Time and winter will decompose all that to the point where only soil amendments and mulch are needed.

Glad that A&J are happy together.