Here in the Hills

Friday, May 17, 2013

tragedy

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a good long time, knows that my entire Garden---upstairs and downstairs- underneath-my-house, (started in 1986), is all Cactus and Succulents.

I fell in love with these unique plants and it became an addiction/obsession and another part of my creative life.....(Better than shoving something up your nose---and so much prettier, too)

Back when I began my blog, in October, 2005, I could still go down into my garden and enjoy the fruits of these amazing beautiful "living sculptures".....I could enjoy the peacefulness and dignity of these truly special and unusual creatures.

I could marvel at the one day-a-year flowers that are created by certain plants......I could enjoy the Hummingbirds and other Birds that came-a-calling----knowing there was good stuff to sup on here.....

It felt good to me that somehow I had created an Oasis for many little creatures, including hundreds of adorable little ancient looking lizards.....

I use to 'work' along side my Gardener---every plant chosen by me----every plant "placed" by me.
A garden of my making.
Because of my Health Issues, I can no longer go down below, into my garden and visit all the plants and be in awe of the fact that nature created these magical beings.

I can still look at it all from my Deck above.....but, well......it is not the same.
And thank God, my dear gardener is devoted to my Garden, and is devoted to keeping everything looking as wonderful as possible.

I cannot even express how much I deeply appreciate his devotion and love of these rare and unique plants.

Okay.

I have been rather haunted by something that happened here in my Garden, about two weeks ago.

I wasn't going to write about it, but it has stayed with me in a way that is quite overwhelming

There are still some unknowns here, so I probably won't go into great great detail,

But.....suffice it to say, it was a tragedy.

A man keeled over and died.

My gardeners 'helper' who had been working here for around 4 months or so...(My Gardener has worked with me here in my Cactus Garden for over 20 years...) just suddenly fell over, and was gone.

My dear Gardener saw this happen and tried to help him, but he was not able to....

My Gardener called 911....and while still on the phone with them, come upstairs from underneath the house, where the tragedy happened, and rang my doorbell to tell me what had occurred.

He was distraught, beyond words. But he thought his helper was still alive.
It turned out, he wasn't.

Three or four---maybe five Firetrucks showed up,---I'm really still not sure how many there were----and definitely there were two Ambulances, as well. This was all in answer to the 911 call.

Many many Fireman, Policeman, etc. showed up and the Fireman/Paramedics, established that this man was dead.
An awful horrible truth.
Stunningly Horrible.
My poor dear Gardener was in shock.
True Shock.

The Fireman couldn't move the helper from the position he was in because they had to wait for the Coroner---which took a couple of hours----the OSHA people were here too, and my Gardener was questioned extensively by the police and the OSHA people, and I was questioned extensively, by the police and the OSHA people, too....

Routine for them, very very odd, (but completely understandable), for me.

They have to ask all the questions they do to make sure nothing criminal occurred---which it didn't, and or, if some rules or ordinances were broken with the working conditions, etc. That is still under review, so I won't say anymore about that....

Who was this man that died, here in my garden?
Did he have a family?
Where are they?
How old was he?
Was it a Heart Attack?
We needed to know the answers to the above, and to a hundred other questions
Many of these questions have been answered, but not all of them.

I have lived here in my beloved home since 1964. In all the years I have lived here.....nothing like this has ever happened before.
I have a lot of peoples ashes planted down below, in my lovely Garden...All people I loved dearly......
But no one, in all these 49 years I have lived here, has ever died here in my garden.

It is haunting.

More To Come........

28 Comments:

kenju had this to say:: Oh, gosh, Naomi, I can imagine how disconcerting that is. So much excitement with all the fire trucks and emergency personnel; it must have been stressful for you and everyone. Let us know the result of the investigation.

I'm sorry that you can no longer go into your garden. I hope you have someone take photos for you so you can see it from the angles you cannot get to now.; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 4:51:00 AM PDT
DesLily had this to say:: oh Naomi, I am so sorry this had to happen. But thankfully we don't know where we will be or what we will be doing if a heart attack should happen to us either.

I am just so very sorry it had to happen; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 5:10:00 AM PDT
VV had this to say:: I am so sorry. What a terrible thing, poor man.; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 6:01:00 AM PDT
Lynn had this to say:: Oh my goodness - that is so terrible! And the poor gardener, who tried to help and couldn't. Sometimes people pass away suddenly like that, I guess (that happened to my ex-husband's boss.); Friday, May 17, 2013 at 7:31:00 AM PDT
Unknown had this to say:: How tragic for you and your gardener, and, of course, the poor man's family!; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 7:46:00 AM PDT
Arkansas Patti had this to say:: Oh Naomi, how perfectly dreadful for you,that poor man and the poor gardener who was unable to save him. We never know when our next breath will be our last. I do hope having such a tragedy happen in your garden doesn't destroy the beauty for you.; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 9:00:00 AM PDT
MaR had this to say:: What a tragedy in your beautiful garden! I am very sorry...; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 11:14:00 AM PDT
Shammickite had this to say:: I hope that you will go on enjoying your lovely garden, even though it has been the scene of such a tragic occurrence. There was nothing you could do, or that your gardener could do, to save this poor man. My thoughts are with his family, with your gardener, and with you.... such a shock to everyone. Was he a young man?; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 11:57:00 AM PDT
Shammickite had this to say:: All things considered, I think I would like to die in a garden. There are worst places, y'know!; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 11:58:00 AM PDT
Riot Kitty had this to say:: I am so sorry, what a terrible shock.; Friday, May 17, 2013 at 3:55:00 PM PDT
rashbre had this to say:: What an awful and sad tragedy to happen in your beautiful garden.; Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 9:12:00 AM PDT
debra had this to say:: That is so hard for you and for your the man who works in your gardens. I hope that he who died loved that place as much as you do.; Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 10:19:00 AM PDT
Teena in Toronto had this to say:: How tragic :(; Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 7:33:00 PM PDT
Rain Trueax had this to say:: That is tragic and must be very hard to think about and at the same time not to think about. Knowing such things happen doesn't help. I had a blogger i used to chat with privately sometimes and whose blog I regularly read. Then we readers got notice that he had died suddenly. Drinking a cup of coffee in the morning probably while looking at the blogs he read, he had a terrible pain and it turned out an aorta had ruptured. they could not save him. He wasn't so old that it was the kind of thing you expect. It is always shocking whatever age though when death comes like that. Hope you feel better about it soon. Perhaps writing about it will have helped.; Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 8:23:00 AM PDT
Nikki - Notes of Life had this to say:: Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear this. How tragic.; Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 11:30:00 AM PDT
Dianne had this to say:: I am so sorry this happened
it's a testament to your empathy that it is haunting you but I do hope you feel more at peace about it soon

so many things make no sense to me that I can't even come up with a comforting reason

hugs to you
and to your dear gardener, poor man; Monday, May 20, 2013 at 9:14:00 AM PDT
LL Cool Joe had this to say:: Oh no what a terrible story, all round. One that you can no longer go into your beautiful garden and secondly what happened to that poor man. It must have been awful for the gardener to have to go through all that. I suppose you'll never quite feel the same about your garden as you did. It will always be tinged with sadness now. How awful.; Monday, May 20, 2013 at 10:30:00 PM PDT
The Unbearable Banishment had this to say:: We don't know how old he was but I'm going to assume this was an untimely death. I'm so sorry to hear this. But if a person could pick the time and place to expire, working in a garden would be at the top of the list, don't you think? This little morsel we must celebrate.; Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 4:40:00 AM PDT
Ileana had this to say:: What a horrible tragedy and so many unanswered questions, which makes things even worse. I'm sorry this had to happen at all and in your beautiful garden of all places...just shocking and so odd and devastating. I hope you get more answers, my friend. ♥; Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 6:01:00 AM PDT
sonia a. mascaro had this to say:: Naomi, as I wrote to you before on e-mail, I am so sorry for this horrible tragedy. What a terrible thing, poor man...
I know that is so difficult to you and also to your old gardner that has worked in your Cactus Garden for 20 years... so sad indeed...
Lots of hugs, my dear.; Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 9:17:00 AM PDT
Jeanie had this to say:: Oh, my dear Naomi, this is indeed unsettling and yes, tragic, to be sure. My heart goes out to you, your gardener, to this helper's family. I suppose we never know when something like this will happen to any of us, and I would like to think that the few moments before this sudden thing happened, that he was thinking, "What a lovely, heavenly spot I'm in right here." Sending many warm and healing hugs to you.; Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 4:16:00 PM PDT
colleen had this to say:: It was strange to want to read this intriguing story fast but want to scroll slow and see the stunning photography. That really was quite and ordeal and you are left with the lasting after effects. At least he went in a beautiful place. I have a young friend here in Floyd who is a trainer and a client/friend of his (who was only in her 30's) recently died from a heart attack while working out. It turned out that she did have previous heart condition that they knew about.

Also, Joe's dad died in our bed! I was not here at the time and I have never been haunted by it, maybe cause I wasn't here and didn't have the visceral memories.; Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 6:50:00 AM PDT
Shionge had this to say:: Oh Oh Naomi, I am so sorry to hear about this incident and glad that you shared with all of us as it would not be good for you to keep the anxiety and anguish all by yourself.

I hope it'll soon pass after the investigation and that you'll find love and peace in your beautiful garden again.

Take care Noami and don't worry too much. Big Big HUGS!!!; Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 4:53:00 PM PDT
Diane J Standiford had this to say:: How horrible, and yet, almost meaningful in some way I wager you may discover.; Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 7:56:00 PM PDT
Pat had this to say:: I'm so sorry Naomi as you know this is all too familiar to me.
Try to comfort yourself by the fact that his death would have been swift and - as my coroner said any pain would have ben short lived.
If I had the choice I would like to die like that - in a beautiful garden like yours - or mine.
It is very traumatic for you and your gardener and I hope you can erase the bad memory and think of the peaceful surroundings you gave him in his last moments.; Friday, May 24, 2013 at 2:46:00 AM PDT
Lilly had this to say:: Oh my Naomi no wonder you are upset. You must have been in shock as was your poor gardener. These things happen of course but you can never imagine them happening in your garden. The police questioning must have been frightening too. The whole process. At least he went quickly, in a beautiful place. It may have been worse if he was driving home or something. I am glad you were inside at the time. Your garden is special just beautiful and a credit to you and your gardener. Just remember it was his time to go and as eerie as it must be he had a lovely spot to leave his earth. Your garden is a haven it really is. Take Care and I know it will occupy your thoughts for some time to come and it was a good thing you shared this. It is a lot to keep under wraps. Big hugs to you.; Sunday, May 26, 2013 at 4:27:00 AM PDT
Lydia had this to say:: Hugs.; Monday, May 27, 2013 at 9:17:00 PM PDT
Melody had this to say:: On the positive, he died in a fabulous garden - what a way to go! Sheesh. Just a pity it was YOUR garden.

I'm really sorry you can't venture out into your garden any more. Really I am.; Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 7:35:00 PM PDT