Queen Anne Hill

Roxanne and I ventured west for a long weekend visit with Dianne. We wandered through her neighborhood on and off all weekend - picking up fresh fish for dinner, hanging out in coffee shops and yarn stores, stretching and sweating at a yoga class. And constantly being AMAZED by the prolific zone 8.

But truly, the highlight of the weekend was meeting Lady Di's favorite neighbor, Harold. He's a 91-year old bachelor and a passionate gardener - actually, a passionate human being. He has tended his family property since the depression and both are locked in time - circa 1939 - nothing wasted. Nothing new. Save everything.

When we stopped by, he was camped on an overturned plastic bucket, pruning a venerable lilac tree. It was apparent he was recently perched atop the rickety ladder resting next to him -- sawing down a stubborn branch, barely tethered to earth or tree. Slight in stature, clothed in a threadbare quilted jacket, jeans crusted with dirt and sweat, he was bent over his brush pile, methodically cutting and stacking trimmed out twigs. It was, at the least, a week of work for him.

He held us captive for an hour while he gave us a tour of his estate and demonstrated the care and propogation of mason bees. He cultivates a small orchard of fruit trees - which must be spectacular in bloom - he has hand built a series of stone walls that surround the property. A tenuous greenhouse leans up against the backside of the house -- nurturing seedlings and serving as a storage facility for plastic pots, watering cans and miscellaneous discards.

The inside of his house is stacked with 50 years of nursery catalogs, fruit crates and boxes of cast-offs. His lazy boy rocker sits center stage, surrounded by bookshelves overflowing with encyclopedias and reference materials - an arms length away, critial distance for a voracious reader. (Dianne tells us he just finished a book about the former Soviet Union and is currently studying China during the early days of Mao Tse Tung.)

And yet, another example of a person that has aged well - open to new ideas, friendships and maintaining an acute sense of humor.

Alas, he is camera shy.