Saturday 8 November 2008

Dirty Hands

Dirty hands. Even though I prefer to wear gardening gloves whe digging. I plant bulbs, cover them with soil. A neighbour's inquisitive cat joins me, stares over the top of the pot. Meows her approval. She follows me around the gardens as I pick up the litter and prune overhanging branches. When I've finished, she walks alongside me. As I walk towards the door to our stair, she walks towards her cat flap, showing me her dirty paws.



Dirty Hands for Weekend Wordsmith

(I live in a tenement stair in Edinburgh. Our stair of flats shares a backgreen space with several other stairs. There are communal areas to the garden and also some fenced off gardens, some of which aren't well looked after, hence the litter. You can read more about the garden here.)

18 comments:

Rachel Green said...

Oh! lovely. Why is it that cats hate dirty paws so much, unless they have an opportunity to walk across clean washing?

Dave King said...

I picture it exactly - I think!.

stu said...

I've currently got muddy paw prints on my walls, where one of the cats ran along it coming down from one of the higher spots he'd jumped to.

Lucy said...

Lovely to have such a companion when you garden!

Scot said...

our cool cats follow us into the woods when we go for walks along with the dogs--some also like to garden with us

Gordon Mason said...

Great image of a feline supervisor here! But is it not too much information to tell us that you "love" in a tenement stair!

Janice Thomson said...

How neat to have such wonderful company - great imagery Juliet.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Gordon - thanks for pointing that out! I've edited it now to read live...

Anonymous said...

Hi! "Dirty Hands" is a great piece. It reads like a prose-poem.
Thanks. DavidM

Anonymous said...

These communal urban gardens are such a brilliant idea. More can grow from them than vegetables, community, ideas, renewal. I've seen them do wonderful things as part of wider program.

Larry Kollar said...

This is great? Do you mind if I share it with some other writer friends of mine?

RG said...

Yes, I'm torn. Every morning, still dark, I turn on a small light inside and get the cat food dishes ready to put out. There at the big sliding door are the barn cats and they soon stand up to the door, muddy paws sliding all over the glass! So anxious to see me and the food. Impossible to keep that window clean for long. But impossible not to enjoy as well!!!

Crafty Green Poet said...

rabbits guy - how do the bunns react to the cats?

gingatao - they are a great idea, you're right and yes there's so much more to them than just the veg and flowers...

DavidM - thanks

FarFetched - not at all, please feel free...

polona said...

what an enjoyable read...

Mistlethrush said...

Enjoyed the poem - could see it all happening.
Thanks for the link to Wordsmith - always handy to have somewhere to go to prompt a sagging inspiration.

AscenderRisesAbove said...

such a short little story - yet tells us a soothing story. very well done. i felt like I was right there with you and that there was no need for words

shadows and clouds said...

sounds soooo nice! friendly cats are fab! i love planting with no gloves on. that direct contact of you with the land. it fills me with energy!

Susan Richardson said...

Lovely visual details!