A sitting spot

 Some years ago, I'm talking at least 20, my Aunt Johanne and her cousin-in-law Erling, got together and gardened a spot and added a bench & marker to make a spot for sitting.  This is just at the edge of the lawn at the West Denmark Church.  The project was a tribute to their respective parents, who were good friends with one another.

 Now, after years of no maintenance to speak of, that sitting area needs some attention.  When I was at church on Thursday for my cousin Sonja's memorial, the daughter of Selma & Erling explained to me what needed to be done.  She had already started with the gardening part of the work.  The old bushes were overgrown and lived their cycle.  She had those removed and was working to plant some native plants.  The bench needs some attention.

Marker in the flower garden at the sitting spot.

After the funeral lunch, I asked Glenn & Kathy and Laila to go look at the spot and see what we could offer as the Johansen part of this deal.  My first thought was that the bench should be replaced with a red steel bench, big enough to seat 2 or 3 at the most.  Something that would compliment the red roof of the church and also be maintenance free. Checking around for this item clued me in that this was going to be a 'spendy' option.  I'm pretty sure most of my first cousins would contribute to the cause, but there is a limit.

I was back at church on Sunday and mentioned my thoughts to Judy and Mary (another cousin).  They felt like the bench should be bronze or brown to blend in with the woods, rather than stand out.  They also thought that the bench should be sizeable as the Sunday School uses the bench.  I assured them that any ideas we have would be discussed before we made any purchases.

Huge Oak tree at church and sitting area in the background

West Denmark Lutheran Church

Wednesday, Laila was headed to the airport to fly home to Colorado. After I dropped Laila off with Glenn at Baldwin, I headed back up to the church.  I wanted to try to scrub the marker and bench & also water plants at the cemetery.

Judy has already planted the new plants.

I had a jug of soapy water and a jug of clean water.

It didn't take long before the plaque was looking like new.  I suspected it had a red background, I did not know it was bright red.  Yay.

The marker is clean, can you believe it?

I used the rest of the soapy water on the bench.  I ran out before I could finish the seat, but it was making a big difference.

I'll plan a trip over soon with more jugs of soapy water and continue scrubbing the bench.  I have a feeling that once it is clean, it could be painted to preserve the wood from further decay and this bench will last many years into the future.

I'd like to add some white violets to this flower bed, but I'll see how the plants grow that are already there and then see what Judy thinks.

I'm happy to help with this and am glad that I was told about the work to be done.  I also will defer to Judy and others for final decisions as they are at church every Sunday and have a better understanding of what the congregation will most appreciate and use.

I will add a stop here to my trips to the cemetery. I can water the plants and pull weeds.