Mark's Garden

We chose the small area to the side of our patio....we never could get grass to grow here real well.  By putting the garden here, we are able to enjoy it at anytime and it seems to be an extension of our patio. Mark's aunt and uncle (Deb and Mike) commented early that maybe I should not have planted pink flowers...that Mark would have preferred Cardinal Red...and they are probably right.  Next year I will plant red Mandevilla vines...this year the pink is for Mark's girls. It could have been worse...Mike was with me when I picked out the flowers for the front of the angel..originally I was going to plant pansies and Uncle Mike immediately put a stop to that. Don has the angel secured to the fence.  Before he did that, he would bring in the statue every night. Around the angel we have hung dragonfly lights.  One night, Michael and Danny stayed over and Michael noticed that the lights formed the letter "M" for Mark.   My good friend, Patti O'Toole gave Don and me some solar dragonfly lights and we have those along the bottom of the angel...so every night, regardless if we turn on the other lights, there are always dragonfly lights glowing. On either side are statues of a football player and a golfer. This is what I see every morning when I open our back door.  I spend a few minutes out here everyday...and when I come home from work this is where I am "unwinding". Don built our patio a number of years ago after John got a few of his friends to break up the old concrete one.  At the right is a planter box that he built. We used to use it as a fountain but now I plant herbs in it.

This picture show some of the beautiful memorial stones that were given to us at Mark's funeral.  We have two of the stones in the front of the house. To the left can be seen a garden stake that has a sign on it with a dragonfly that states "In Memory of Mark DeWalle."  We received this beautiful gift from Rachel Voyles...and it really touched us. The small circle stone in front is a dragonfly stepping stone...but I won't allow anyone to step on it.  Andy and Jenn brought it to us the night of the dragonfly vigil.  It was so very thoughtful and is a great addition. We also have a dragonfly that cannot be seen in this picture....we stole it from Sandy and Tony Chytla. This isn't a very good picture...but it shows some of the plants and memorial stones....plus it shows off my husband's talent at putting in a beautiful sidewalk.  Many of the plants were given to me by my sister, Debe.  Mike and Debbie bought one of the clematis plants.  The yellow lilies are ones that I transplanted from another area of our yard.  Debbie gave me the daylillies...and they bloomed for the first time on June 13th....they were not blooming at 6am...but by the time Lois and me left for Mark's memorial Mass at 8...they were blooming. Something tells me that isn't a coincidence.

This is the gazebo we put up last summer.  After Mark died, we had to have a tree taken down and was without any shade.....this gazebo is a place for Don and I to relax and visit with friends.  John and Tabitha gave us some beautiful dragonfly lights and it is just wonderful at night.