This was a trumpet vine plant/bush.
I brought it home from my parents’ yard. It was on the end of a clothesline pole at my parents’ and that is where this one lived here in my yard for 45 years or so.
The storm came through last night with pretty strong winds. The pole was rusting and with the wind and weight of the trumpet vine it just couldn’t hold up.
This makes me sad. I remember when we first planted it. Surviving 4 boys messing around in the yard was quite the feat. Using it as a base in baseball, playing tag, and having dogs peeing on it helped shape its character. This plastic support was the second of its kind. The first was a wooden one that crumpled within a few years. I remember carefully lacing the young branches through to help get it growing in the right direction.
Just look at the gnarly trunk. It looks like the trunk was dead but it was growing great. It has been a backdrop for some pretty cool pics. Hummingbirds and bees loved it. The rusted out end of the T of the clothesline pole housed blue birds a few years in a row. I remember mowing by it one day and an ugly huge praying mantis was soaking in the sun. Scared the wits out of me.
The branches had spread so much that it cheated me out of a good portion of my line. And, in good weather my sheets wave in the breeze weekly. It’s been a nice constant companion when clipping the sheets on the line.
I know it’s silly to get attached to things. Yet, when I passed the vine, hung sheets or mowed by it the vision of the original one in my parent’s yard always flitted by. I liked the feeling of having something from my childhood home growing in my yard.
So, it makes me sad that it is gone. It’s also a reminder that things coming and going is a constant. There has been too much change lately in this world for my comfort. It also reinforces within me to be a memory maker. Memories are stored in a safe place. If I can create memories that my grandkids will look back on it won’t matter what storm comes along, it just may be the thing that steadies their boat on the rocky sea of life.
