Life's Accumulations

How much stuff can a pack rat pack in a two story building long used solely for packing stuff? It has been 8o years since the packing house was used as a real home and became a place for stuff. And to this day you can still find a few items my grandparents packed in there even after is has been purged more than once over the years.

Now I should be happy we are not dealing with hoarders here. This is just your typical average accumulation of stuff over a long lifetime. There is something about the human condition that makes us like pack rats. Then we get exploited by the merchants of the consumer culture.

Once you set your mind to another purge and get going, it is an all day and beyond sort of task. There is good stuff in there. That can slow things down.



This purge has been an ongoing affair for a couple of years now. It was decided maybe we shouldn't leave our children this mess to clean up. Slow progress was made and I mean slow. The accumulation has a resistance to removal force of its own.

Then the building contractor left us this spring. His accumulation of stuff was suddenly free of resistance. The purge gathered momentum.

The pink Muhly grass has turned off white. The seasons move on in everyone's garden.



Many of the camellias are showing signs of age and neglect. They have been abandoned for more than half of each year for almost two decades. In the gardener's absence the wild vines have taken root. Each year they attempt to encase the camellias cutting them off from the light.

Without the gardener the accumulation of wildness carries on. The camellias try valiantly to bloom on.



Is there any hope for this place or do you just give up, let the wild accumulate and wait for the camellias to finally die?



I can only watch. I tend the other much bigger, much better wild garden that the camellias were abandoned for.