"Root and boot"

You must destroy it "root and boot," Poirot was saying in an episode we watched recently. Captain Hastings gently reminded him that the phrase is "root and branch." Either way you say it, if you get the root you have it defeated.

I have been pulling vines out of my garden beds for weeks now. For years I pulled them off and cut them to free the tops of the camellias, and I pushed them aside from the daylilies, and that had to be enough. It was all I could manage with obligations to work and family. But now I am determined. Every weekend is devoted to pulling up the roots. Five piles and containers go on the curb every Sunday night and are carried away Monday morning. It is more than the compost pile can handle. Until yesterday I did not know why or how I had finally found the time and the strength to see it through. I certainly had time before, but I chose to use it or fritter it way on other things. Yesterday it struck me. I am pulling up rhabdomyosarcoma by the roots. It is a revenge on a different but related astral plane. My back hurts, my shoulders hurt. I can't wait to get out there again.

Sunday devotions

I performed my devotions in the garden today. I don't know how God views my choice of pulling up native vines by the roots as part of my devotions. Restoring order to the garden is important to me. There is a place for jungle, and a place for garden. Vines growing up through camellias is not okay. Vines growing in the woods with berries for the birds is terrific.

Ginger and friends, part 2, plus the fishing report, part 4

The gingers are settling into their new beds at school. The weather has cooled but we are still getting rain, so they are just working on getting their roots established. They would not be putting out leaves right now anyway.

Where the gingers were, I planted -- from my own yard, some Rosie Meyer daylilies I had potted from proliferations, two Malaysian Monarch daylilies that were in too much shade, some Big Blue liriope to make a border -- and from the local nursery I frequent, native butterfly weed, yellow coneflowers, and blue salvia.

So now there is a small border with no invasive vines. Where I missed pulling a few roots, I can see leaves coming out, and as today is a good day to pull weeds, according to the almanac, I will pull those and move on to clearing another section.

My neighbor who is a master gardener is clearing invasives out of her yard, and just as I saw invasives growing under the fence from the yard before she moved in, now she sees invasives growing back under the fence on her side. I told her I will clear a little border along the fence during the winter, but right now I have to work on the front yard first.

Meanwhile, we have been kayaking several times recently and sailing for the first time since the big storm during the summer. Everything went smoothly with the sail. It was a beautiful fall day with a little breeze last weekend, and we took our sister-in-law with us. She was a great crew member and she steered several times, overcoming her fear of water after just a few minutes of getting used to the movement of our little boat. The West Wight Potter is known for its stability in all kinds of conditions, so it was a good experience for her. I caught just a couple of undersize fish, a trout and a red drum. It is much easier to fish out of the kayak, due to positioning the boat and avoiding the shrouds and sails.

The two weeks before our sail, I had great success out of the kayak. We have a new spot we like at the turn of the tide, where fish are hunting in the shallows around a big cut that goes around one of the barrier islands. In fact, I did so well that the guys are no longer helping me with releasing my fish.