Susan At Bath

No - Not Bath, England.  I took the photograph on the left of my sister Susan at Bath Garden Center and Nursery in Fort Collins, where she was picking out flowers for her garden. And I did so at no small risk - Susan has threatened to kill me if I ever took another photograph of her.  Once women reach a certain age, many of them refuse to be photographed anymore.  Looking back at family photographs taken years ago, I realize this was not always the case. What changed? But I digress. Susan is an avid gardener, following in the footsteps of our Grandfather Hoyt, who tended his gardens in the front and back of his home in the south side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago many years ago.

I visited my grandparents old home when I visited Chicago ten years ago, which is when I took the photograph on the right, with Grandmother and Grandfather Hoyt superimposed onto it. Sadly, the place was not in very good shape, and there was absolutely no trace of the lush gardens that used to surround the place.  Grandfather Hoyt even had a goldfish pond in the backyard, stocked with huge carp. Susan accidentally fell into that pond once when she was a little girl, and was punished by having to stand in the closet for a while, but she never held it against them. Or so she says.  I didn't go around the back to see if the pond was still there, but I suspect it was gone, too, like so much of our past.  Thank goodness we have our memories.