It was a busy morning for you. The day began early, for you needed to meet with Wolfe before he left and he'd instructed Jess to have the Lacy Casey ready to depart before noon. And the matter you were speaking with him about was more detailed than you realized. Wolfe opened dimensions about the project that you had not considered. But, you reflect with a smile, that is why you turned to him in the first place. You smile, pleased and relieved that the matter is in such good hands. You must remember to thank your host for setting up the meeting. Wolfe is highly selective about the jobs he takes, and the Laird's good word went far to persuading him to handle your affair.
So, now, with work done, you can relax and really enjoy your host's hospitality. After lunch, you spend a few minutes in the Music Room, but the warm sunshine coursing in through the high windows draws your eye to the lovely grounds surrounding the Black Lions' home.
"Yes, it is a glorious day, isn't it?" Roth is standing beside your chair; you never heard him approach, but then, that's Roth's way. Like most people who visit the estate, you cannot quite place his age. The white hair and the depth of the light in his eyes tell you that Roth is by no means a young man, but in his bearing and his movements you detect no trace of any dissipation that age normally brings. Impossible as it strikes you, you cannot shake the thought that Roth may have been hewn out of the same rock that walls the castle.
"The Laird has put in some new beds on the south lawn," Roth remarks casually--but for him, of course, nothing is really casual. You smile at the implicit invitation and remark that you're going to tour the grounds, in case your host would like a word with you.
Roth merely smiles placidly, and with a bare motion of his head directs a steward to show you to the door and out into the sunshine, where the flowers and trees and shrubs in their meticulously tilled environs await . . . .
I am very much a newcomer at gardening, my experience before the middle of 1998 being confined to cutting the grass. But I enjoy this new avocation, and I hope that even experienced gardeners may find something useful in these pages as they develop.
I welcome your comments and suggestions about gardening.
"God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."
Francis Bacon, Essays, "Of Gardens" (1597 - 1625)