Hope Springs Eternal

Remember spring? Not to be cruel but, today, on the last day of summer, I’m recalling the joy of spring.

When autumn rolls around, there is always (annoyingly) positive chatter from my husband as he encourages a more optimistic look at the calendar: “Spring is not that far away! Soon the days will start getting longer! We need winter to flush the system!”

On and on with hopeful, infuriating, upbeat thoughts.

So today, the last day of summer, instead of looking ahead into the abyss of dying leaves, shorter days and dark, dark winter, I’m taking a trip back to the spring when I was dreaming of glorious gardening, digging in the dirt, fantastic flowers and hope.

On a sunny day in early June, garden centres all over the HRM were bursting with plants, herbs, flowers and ideas.

Of course, perusing the offerings is fun, but it was even more rewarding to try and fill the rear cargo of my tester for the week, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, with bedding plants and shrubs to dress up our yard.

Obviously, the Grand Cherokee is suited to much more arduous missions. It is a Jeep after all.

But, with its $94,000 price tag, one might not want to be scaling walls, climbing rocks and fording creeks in this rig. The Grand Cherokee is capable of wading through 61 centimetres of water!

Hey! Gardening can be considered roughing it too, right?

I mean, there’s dirt, sharp tools and dangerous wildlife (Red ants! Mosquitos! Worms!). And it is most certainly an outdoor sport.

Away we went, hubby lagging behind, desperately wishing he had someplace else he needed to be. In the end, he didn’t mind tagging along and enjoying the cabin refinements of the spacious Grand Cherokee. The elegant Steel Gray seats proved comfortable on our epic garden mission. I also liked how easy the uConnect infotainment system was to use.

Alas, like summer and our beautiful blooms, the Jeep is gone from our driveway. Snow drifts, shovels and short days will soon be upon us but, around our house, hope and the promise of spring is eternally in the air.