Three stories from the weekend

If you look at the first picture in the previous post, the shot of the front garden, you can see at the back right a huge tree with a concrete power pole running up through it and a yellow natural gas pipe disappearing into it.  The tree is now gone.  Both gas and electric companies said the tree had to go so Saturday it went. It wasn't our tree; it was in the abandoned yard next door but we anteed up $15 and had it cut down before it did real damage. One of the men who cut the tree admired Tanya's flowers.  His daughter's birthday was Sunday, could he get a lily from Tanya to give her?  For sure.  So he was here bright and early Sunday and Tanya cut one of the lilies for him.

One of our neighbours across the back from us runs a small greenhouse operation with his family.  He specializes in early off season cut and potted flowers, (tulips and daffodils) and sells bedding plants as well.  They plant a huge area to tulips and daffodils each fall, then when the flowers bloom, lop the heads off to force growth in the bulbs.  Then in early June they dig up the bulbs, dry them off for the summer and plant them in pots in the greenhouse to bloom in February. They must be adding lilies this year as there is a big patch of lilies blooming now in his yard.  He dropped over to visit Tanya yesterday afternoon, to admire her garden. Tanya was very glad as she got to pick his brain about a great many things.  He knows his stuff.  In return, she had to promise him one of the huge pink and white lilies in the fall as he had never seen anything like it before.

We had dinner guests last evening.  Lena was here and one of my Tanya's friends, another Tatiana, whom I had met before.  Tatiana is a lawyer here in Zhovti Vody, (an advokat as opposed to a notarius).  She is quite attractive, doesn't look her 50 years, and was, I thought divorced. In the course of dinner, I mentioned my friend John in Saskatchewan (who has been alone some 7 years now and apparently needs a push to rectify the situation) should be invited over to meet Tatiana.  My Tanya said "But Tatiana has a husband".  I was sooo embarrassed.  Tatiana said very enthusiastically, "No problem.  I'll check him out".  We all just howled with laughter.  Tatiana lives here because there is more work here for an advokat.  Her husband lives in Dnipropetrovs'k because that is where his work is. They see each other on weekends only.