{"id":11096,"date":"2022-08-01T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/?p=11096"},"modified":"2024-09-08T02:56:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T06:56:50","slug":"poem-amanda-planted-peonies-from-the-professors-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/poem-amanda-planted-peonies-from-the-professors-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"From Lynda’s Journal ~ Amanda Planted Peonies ~"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: \u00a9Angelique Yaromey. Vintage peonies at Lynda’s home, June 1, 2022.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Poem and Backstory<\/span><\/h2>\n

From Lynda\u2019s Journal<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amanda Planted Peonies\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n

(Boule de Neige)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Memories of Amanda<\/p>\n

return when I am tending<\/p>\n

my flower gardens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amanda planted peonies<\/p>\n

during the Great Depression of 1929.<\/p>\n

Nearly a century ago, she planted<\/p>\n

besides her newly built home<\/p>\n

on the ridge<\/p>\n

near the old iron bridge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Delicate rosy petals whisper<\/p>\n

like a deep pink waterfall<\/p>\n

translucent petals blooming<\/p>\n

growing and glowing<\/p>\n

with cerise centers<\/p>\n

rounded like snowballs.<\/p>\n

(Boule de Neige)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I visualize Amanda\u2019s hands<\/p>\n

pulling weeds and raking the soil<\/p>\n

as she nourishes her perennial plot<\/p>\n

that I inherited<\/p>\n

when I purchased her house<\/p>\n

over a half-a-century later.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I celebrate Amanda\u2019s<\/p>\n

Victorian heirloom plants<\/p>\n

And witness the process of rebirth<\/p>\n

Along my sidewalk each year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vintage Peonies are aromatic,<\/p>\n

sweet-scented \u2013 refreshed with morning dew.<\/p>\n

They persist over time like<\/p>\n

old and precious friendships,<\/p>\n

renewing each year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amanda\u2019s prolific flowers<\/p>\n

continue to multiply<\/p>\n

in my early summer garden.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Old fashioned peonies are reminders<\/p>\n

of calm days in the garden<\/p>\n

where we find a relaxed pace in life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lynda McKinney Lambert, Ellwood City, PA<\/p>\n

riverwoman@zoominternet.net<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*Published:<\/p>\n

Amanda Planted Peonies<\/em><\/p>\n

appears in the summer quarterly issue of The Avocet, <\/em><\/p>\n

which can be downloaded here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Charles Portolano, Editor<\/p>\n

Contact:
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

#The Avocet<\/p>\n

P.O. Box 19186<\/p>\n

Fountain Hills, AZ 85269<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Backstory:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Amanda Planted Peonies<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Amanda and John Duncan were excited in the early spring of 1929 as they hosted an open house party. The young couple owned a little gas station and grocery store next door to the new home. This was a dream come true for the couple. One feature in the house was \u201cEddie\u2019s Toy Room,\u201d for a little boy they were adopting.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I sat with Amanda one afternoon in 1967 as she told me all about how they built the house and the events that changed all of their plans in 1929.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bob and I were looking for a new home. Our two little daughters were with us one day when we were out for a ride in the car. Bob saw a \u201cFor Sale\u201d sign in the front yard at 104 River Road, in the little Village of Wurtemburg, in western Pennsylvania. This looked like the perfect house for our little family. It was love at first sight as we looked at the graceful old home with an apple tree beside the little gravel driveway. The house was built near a winding creek and woods.<\/span><\/p>\n

After some weeks of negotiations and paperwork, the home was ours.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After moving into the house, we met our neighbors, John and Amanda Duncan. They lived next door, and eventually, we heard the story of how they had the house built. Unfortunately, the depression hit about the same time they moved into their new home. As the economy plunged downward, they decided that they would move back down to their old house and run a gas station and grocery store so that they could survive. So they sold the home at 104 River Road.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One day as I was talking to Amanda, she told me how she had planted the row of peony bushes beside the driveway. She said she grew them when the house was built. Over the years since we have lived in this house when the peonies are blooming every year, I think about Amanda and the joy she had in planting those peonies. I replanted them to a place where they greet every visitor who arrives at the house. Anyone driving past the house can see them along the fence line. Each year, those remarkable vintage peonies make everyone smile. I always think that Amanda\u2019s peonies are her gift to people from all past and present generations and into the distant future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amanda\u2019s peonies begin to bloom near the end of May and into the first week of June. These abundant bushes are thriving and fruitful. I have a freshly picked bouquet of pink peonies in a porcelain pitcher on my kitchen counter. Each time I look at them, I whisper a \u201cthank you,\u201d to Amanda for the gift she has given me all these years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n