Gardeners and Convertibles

It was quite strange to me that all winter long I would see garage doors open and close throughout the neighborhood, but rarely saw signs of real human life. It is even more bizarre to look back on winter now that spring has arrived. I am now hard pressed to go outside, even at midnight, at not see someone! It's almost like the people here are robots and they know exactly when they are suppossed to come out of their houses for spring and summer.

The funniest thing to me is how the minute people emerge from their houses, they have gardening and convertibles on their minds. I grew up in Southern California, not far from Huntington Beach, and I have never saw as many fancy convertible sports cars (particularly Porsches and T-Birds) as I have seen on the road here in just the last month. Apparantly many people in Alaska have enough disposable income to drive SUVs all winter long while their paying to store and probably pay monthly on their convertibles.

There is a beautiful little nursery in town that I frequented often during the winter. It's close to home and it was kind of an escape for me sometimes. The nursery has a quaint little gift shop inside and outside, in a covered and heated area, they have a really neat William and Sonomaesque cooking shop. The gift and kitchen shop keep the nursery in business during the winter months. As you can imagaine, parking spots are a dime a dozen in the winter. Now that Spring has arrived, my "quaint" nursery in now a mad house and parking is at a premium. I am amazed at the amount of money being spent there on any given day. People are walking out with 6-7 hanging baskets of flowers, to the tune of $25-$80 each! They are purchasing flats and flats of flowers and bags and bags of fertilizer and mulch. It's insane!

As I walk through our subdivision, I continue to be amazed by how green everyones grass is and the fact that many of our neighbors literally have flats of flowers sitting on thier driveways, just waiting to be planted. I often go for a walk later in the evening (it still looks like about 5:30 and 10:30) and I see people out planting flowers, pruning, fertilizing, or mowing their lawns. Eric and I laugh at how often some of our neighbors mow their lawns. In California, mowing your lawn becomes a necessary evil and many people put it off as long as possible. Here in Alaska, people can't wait to mow their lawns!

So, for the past month I have continued to wonder what the obsession is with gardens and convertibles in Alaska. I don't enjoy convertibles much, so that continues to be lost on me, but I kind of "get" the gardening aspect. Although I continue to think many of my neighbors are ridiculously obsessed with their lawns and gardens, I guess they can be because they only have to put the time, effort, energy, and money into them for a very short few months.

Long live Spring and Summer!!!!!!!!