My mother’s need for order has nothing to do with the chaos of a life with too little space and too little money and almost no chance to make something beautiful of it all. The chance to create loveliness is always waiting just past the door of our matchbox rental. She never prepares for gardening—no special gloves, no rubber garden clogs, no stiff canvas apron with pockets for tools. No tools, most of the time. She steps out of the house—or the car, setting her bags down before she even makes it to the door—and puts her hands in the soil, tugging out the green things that don’t belong among the green things that do. Now another bare square of ground appears, and there is room for marigold seeds, the ones she saved when last year’s ruffled yellow blooms turned brown and dried to fragile likenesses of themselves. The light bill might be under the covers at the foot of her bed, the unsigned report card somewhere in the mess of papers on the mantel, but she can always put her hands on last year’s seeds. And later, in the summer, the very ground she walks on will be covered in gold.
~ Margaret Renkl, from “My Mother Pulls Weeds, Birmingham, 1978,” Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
Photo: Cindy Garber Iverson
Live & Learn 
what lovely magic. creating and finding the beauty anywhere
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It really is…
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Obviously a woman who understood what was really important… This book is clearly a must-read…
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I highly recommend it.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
‘Margaret Renkl, from “My Mother Pulls Weeds, Birmingham, 1978,” Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss’… a beautiful sight for weary eyes!
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How sweet! I appreciate her mother also in this moment…and then my own mother’s pointing out various wildflowers, telling the kinds of trees by their leaves, listening to birds for their songs to identify them.
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yes, certainly brings back memories…
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I read this exact passage in the book soon after I read it in your blog. I don’t ever want this book to end, but of course it will. Hopefully something will grow in its place. 😊
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Sharon, I felt exactly the same way. I’m between books. What do you recommend I read next?
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This is my January books read up to now list:
1. Transcription — Kate Atkinson
2. The Dutch House — Ann Patchett
3. The Ghost Garden — Susan Doherty
4. The Handmaid’s Tale — Margaret Atwood
5. Be My Guest — Priya Basil
6. Reproduction — Ian Williams
I highly recommend #s 1-5. Reproduction was well-written but I found the format difficult to follow. From my December list, anything by Joan Didion or Kate Atkinson. The Crying Book by Heather Christie, a jewel of a book. Or Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness. Happy reading!
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Thank you! Patchett it is.
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A resounding YES for Transcription and Dutch House!
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We are on the same page!
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A good review for Dutch House: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/762888874/motherless-children-make-their-own-family-in-the-dutch-house
btw me and my siblings grew up in a large Dutch Colonial, with stained glass windows the glass was sourced from France after a breakage to a sidelight…
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I’m 20% through and liking it. Thank you for sharing.
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