Death in the Garden

My neighbor's 8-foot tall shrub, Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, has died. Now i can really see the architecture of its twisty twigs.

Sometimes we are surprised by a sudden death--in our garden or of someone close to our heart. A friend's sister went to the emergency room with "stomach pains." As she got up off the CRT table, she dropped dead of a heart aneurism. Shocking. The acceptance/denial comes in waves. I'm taking a bouquet of flowers to my friend.

And i've taken a dozen morning (mourning?) glory plants to my neighbor, so they can clamber over the skeleton of Harry Lauder's Walking Stick.