And a time for every purpose under Heaven

When Teri decided to finally move on from childcare and teaching about eight years ago and pursue her longtime desire to design and maintain home gardens, her first real client was a woman named Leonore Fine. Leonore lived nearby on Claremont Avenue, and she really wanted a garden that she could spend peaceful, meditative time in. She even had a name for it - The Grotto.

Leonore was already 92 at the time, but still traveled, studied, entertained, and generally made middle-aged people like Teri and me feel really silly about kvetching about age.

Teri and Leonore got along great these past eight years, although Teri did think Leonore should have allowed her to kill garden snails - Leonore, however, forbade it, citing her Buddhist beliefs.

Leonore turned 100 this past March, and, though keeping as active as ever, did confide to Teri more than once how tired she was starting to feel.

She passed away at 2:30 last night, at home, with family at hand. And yes I know 100 is a great run, but I'm still choking up a bit here. Goodbye, Leonore, wherever in the universe you are. Hope it's all you imagined.