Inspiration - sprouting something beautiful....

A week or so ago I walked out to water our garden, as is my daily task in the intense summer St. Louis heat. As I was fussing over my plants, checking them and crushing bugs my daughter said "What's that??" and pointed to the corner of the plot.

Something had sprouted - and it wasn't a plant!

This was what we saw:

Without prior announcement an almost life-size painting of me had appeared to embellish the garden. I was tickled to my very core. The neighbors have certainly taken note but this was one of the first big additions made by another household to the space.

It was created by my neighbor Nancy Dylewski who has been a resident of Hyde Park for approximately 30 years, going back to the initial push for historic restoration in the late 1970s. She and her husband Don are familiar with the challenges of remediating a city lot. After the house next to hers burned down the city leveled that lot and sprayed it with defoliant (brilliant, right?). After a few years they began to try and grow things on the land with very frustrating results at first. Everything died due to the defoliant. They brought in professional help a few times to work on the dirt and after many tries have turned what was just barren land into a park-like setting with hostas, trees, and now their own vegetables growing some from seed I shared with them.

Nancy's artwork was one of the nicest surprises I've ever received. It was inspired straight from the heart. The gift bolsters my enthusiasm and energy for continuing to remodel our plot.

So now you can see "me" in the garden all day and all night. Now if only I looked this cute while actually working out there. ;)