A typical day.

I've been trying to write this post for days. I keep staring at the blank page, trying to write something that will be interesting to read. The problem is, I keep comparing this project to New York, and Silverton isn't New York. In New York, we were directly influencing the lives of those we served. Here, it's harder to stand back and look at an area we've cleared of brush and say, "I just made the world better." Silverton runs at a slower pace. The work is all important, but it isn't the same kind of important.

I've spent the past two days cleaning up cotoneaster next to the pavilion. A patch of it was blocking a fire hydrant and had to be removed, and the rest had to be trimmed down significantly. Kevin took a hedge trimmer to the largest patch and cut it down to knee height. Then the rest of us came through and cleaned it up, pulling out loose branches and trimming down any that stuck up over the patch. To be frank, the cotoneaster looked better before we came along. Cutting off the top layer of leafy branches only exposed the larger, bare ones. But Ty says that it will grow more branches soon enough and be easier to maintain at it's new height.

Most of our work here is similar to that- either removing plants or trimming them back. There is some other work though- Alyssa and I had the good fortune to be working in the Northwest Garden when some plants were delivered. We actually got to replant an area we had cleared the day before! It may not be noticeable to the guests that walk past, but to us that little area of the Northwest Garden (98 square feet, to be as exact as you can get by measuring with a rake) became ours. We saw it go from totally overgrown to newly planted because of our hard work. It may not be the same as gutting a house or handing out food to hungry New Yorkers, but it meant a lot to us.

Current sun count- 5 days.