Our youngest was just starting school that year, and now she’s in college. It’s the gate that swung wide for all the neighborhood kids to come for a dip in the pool… And it’s the gate that our sweet doggies could peek through if they wanted to know what was going on in the world beyond their backyard.
Hubby built the gate to my exact specifications…I wanted a simple arbor above the gate for the clematis (which have just started blooming)… I wanted the stockade pickets spaced apart so you could see a hint of the outside world, or a peek into the garden, depending upon which side you stood… I wanted the pickets to get shorter and shorter toward the center of the gate…
…..and I wanted the gate to have a heart… After all, a heart is the symbol of love, and I loved all the memories being made in our little yard, and I loved all the people that came and went through that little gate.
The ‘heart’ of the gate offers a little glimpse into the magic that awaits you when you enter…. If you look in this direction, you might see a hummingbird feeding at the hanging fuchsia…
…and if you look over here, you might see a new Mr. & Mrs. Wren starting to build their home in this birdhouse that we just put up yesterday…
But for years now, the wood has started to rot away… Pickets are being nailed and renailed into fewer and fewer places where the wood is still strong enough to hold a nail or screw. The old wheel that once allowed the gate to roll effortlessly is long gone. Some of the pickets have broken at the bottom of the gate, but I wouldn’t change a one of them. The broken pickets have resulted in the little hole that our Chip(s) use to enter the backyard, gather their peanuts, and then scamper back through the opening with cheeks so full of peanuts that they barely fit!
Yes, it’s a lovely gate… old, worn, full of memories, built with love… It welcomes our family, friends, birds and all the little creatures that visit our little yard. I pray it lasts many, many more years as I’m not even close to ready for a new garden gate…
Donna
Today's song: Home is where the heart is - Elvis Presley