Jayne In Georgia

The spell of swaying Savannah shadows

lift the  memories never fleeing

a beloved father’s pain ended by Death

Giving grief second place to relief

A beautiful friend’s agony snatched away

by that unwelcome visitor, not invited

Loss slowly replaced by the mind’s eye sight

Fleeting beauty on strong wings that lift

Jayne On Weed Street is becoming more a quarterly publication.  There are events that get in the way of even the most well-meaning writer.  Things like hurricanes!  Besides the stress and expense and toil of evacuating from my home, I will not complain too loudly because when you see people losing EVERYTHING,  you feel some gratitude that your home was spared.

We evacuated on a Friday, a day ahead of the mandatory evacuation notice, but when irksome Irma, made a left hand turn, it seemed she was headed more toward Augusta, (where we had evacuated) than our home in Savannah.  So we packed up the cooler, the dogs and luggage to check out of the hotel and drive into the Twilight Zone.  NO ONE seemed to be driving to Savannah or SOuth for that matter.  Yes, we headed back to the hurricane.  On Monday morning, the view from our front porch looked like this, as Irma came blowing through Savannah.  Hurricane Matthew had toppled  centuries old trees and mountains of branches on Skidaway Island 11 months before, but Irma’s wrath was surging water. .  Crossing the bridge to Skidaway Island looked like this as the water rose.  The salt marsh disappeared.   A few days later, all was back to normal.   The rope bridge, as is pictured on my cover page, also disappeared.  The local fowl wondered about the new landscape.

When the winds died down, the birds  began to sing.  The butterflies carried on as usual.  Alligators showed up in unexpected places because water was everywhere.We have come to love our Southern home ,  but how many times can you be irked by hurricanes before you begin to second guess your choice of new home?

A Southern garden should always include at least one camellia.  Or maybe a dozen.  With their long bloom time and delightful presence through the Winter, this small tree or shrub brings such a burst of energy during an otherwise quiet period.

We drove to Fort Valley GA, Massee Lane Gardens, and the home of the American Camellia Society.  Expecting  only to see some variations of camellias, we were wildly enthusiastic at all that we were to find.  The intoxicating scent of the tea olives as we strolled along the brick pathways added to the magic of the camellias, fully in bloom and in their glory.  10 acres of camellias with other plants of interest!  A recent storm had brought down a tree, but miraculously, it missed every single camellia!   We couldn’t believe the variety; I started to think of places where I could squeeze in more in our garden.  We drove home though peach and pecan orchards and felt as though this was one of our most special days in Georgia.  Three years ago with deep snow covering the ground of our CT garden, who would think we and our pups would spend a February day like this!