I Have Issues

Not serious ones.

At least not that I know of.

But at the moment, I have some landscaping issues. At the heart of all of the landscaping issues I have, there is one larger issue... I can never make up my mind on how/where to put things.

For instance, last week we received a couple of trees -- one apple and one peach -- that I had ordered from Gurney's. It was complete agony for me to decide where to plant them.

Okay, maybe not complete agony.

But it was difficult.

For my pea-size brain to handle.

I mean, it's a TREE! Not only is it going to take a long time for it to mature and produce fruit, but it's also going to be there for many years to come. Possibly longer than I live on this earth.

Whew! That's a lot of pressure!

Ultimately we (and by 'we', I mean 'me', and Mr. Blue Eyes got to do the grunt work of actually planting them, at 6:30 on a Sunday morning, because that was the only time we could squeeze in to get it done) decided to plant them here...

...where we added them to a nice little arc of trees that my father-in-law started within the last five to ten years, that skirts around the perimeter of the grove.

*Sidenote: Do you know what a 'grove' is? Do you have 'groves' where you live? Growing up in Minnesota, I thought everyone knew what a 'grove' was. Then I moved to Colorado and used the word in conversation, and received multiple questioning looks. I then realized that not every homestead in every part of the world has a 'grove' surrounding it, as we do here in MN, or if they do, they don't call it a 'grove'. So, if you're not familiar, we Minnesotans use the term 'grove' to refer to thick areas of trees that are around the perimeter of a farmsite, to protect from the wind.

**Sidenote #2: Do you know what a 'farmsite' is? I think this can be a little confusing. A 'farmsite' or 'homesite', at least here in Minnesota, is the part of the farm that you live on, and usually have your livestock buildings on as well. This is in contrast to the greater 'farm', which would include all of the land that is used for growing crops in addition to the farmsite. For example, our 'farmsite' is a little over ten acres, which sits on the greater 'farm' of 200+ acres.

***Sidenote #3: Do you know what 'crops' are?

I'm just kidding on that last one. I'll stop now.

Look at me, being all educational! I thought I was just here today to tell you about my issues, and instead I find myself giving you a little lesson in Minnesota farm terminology. Life is like a box of chocolates, I tell ya'.

(On that note, can you hold on a sec while I go get myself a little chocolate? Be right back.)

(Mmmmm. That's good stuff.)

(FYI: Giving up seriously dark chocolate is not part of my new diet. And it never will be.)

So, getting back to my landscaping issues... Since mother nature has decided, almost overnight, to throw us from barely being free from the clutches of winter, to full-on humid summer weather, the time has abruptly come for us to start planting some things in the earth.

Or digging some things out of the earth and moving them to a different location.

Or digging some things out of the earth, separating them into smaller plants, and moving them to a different location.

Or preparing garden/flower beds for all of these said 'things' to reside in.

Which requires making a decision as to where these beds should be placed, and how they should look.

And this is where I find myself struggling.

I know why I struggle with this. I do. It has to do with two things: 1) Due to my anal-retentive nature, I would ideally like for every tree, bush, garden, flower bed and bird feeder to somehow be placed in a symmetrical, parallel, or at least feng shui position. Since there are already bunches of trees, bushes and flowers growing here in positions that are somewhat random, and since a very small portion of our 10+ acres is actually flat, my dreams of symmetry are never going to happen; and 2) I'm very aware that the physical labor aspect of planting things, landscaping and building flower beds is fairly demanding, so it's not something you want to re-do in the near future. This makes me feel extra pressure to do it right the first time.

So here I am, stewing  in my landscape conundrum. And you know what? I've made a decision.

My decision is...

...to simply...

Let it go.

Loosen the reins a little bit on this desire to have everything looking perfect.

Appreciate what is, and not stress about what could be.

Sometimes it's better to simply enjoy the imperfections.