Farewell to the Pear Lady - Death of a Statue

Is it a statue if it's made out of wood? *scratches head* Perhaps "sculpture" would be better?

OK, take two: Death of a Sculpture.

Some while ago I wrote about the sad deterioration of the Pear Lady, a "sculpture" *exaggerated pronunciation* in the garden of one of my clients. She's so-called as she is made from pear wood (I am talking about the garden ornament here, not the client) (but you'd already realised that, hadn't you?) and she's been in this garden longer than I have.

Alas, poor lady, she's been rotting away for the last couple of years, but this week when I turned up for work, look what had happened:

Oh dear!

My client remains upbeat about it though, and has decided to leave her just lying there: she says the Pear Lady looks very peaceful, at rest in the long grass and Symphytum officinale (Comfrey). Although there's a bit of rogue blue Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens for those who are interested) at her feet that is going to need removal - last year it was a pretty sprinkling, but this year it's turned into a complete thug and is threatening to take over the area, so I have been instructed to wage war on it.

This suits me, as I hate the stuff - I think the leaves are coarse and ugly, and are rough and scratchy to the touch. Please bear in mind that I work in shorts for most of the year - my motto: Live And Die In Shorts - so I tend to dislike anything rough at ankle height, not that I try to influence my clients at all, no, no. I do agree that the flowers are indeed a lovely strong blue colour, but well, pfff *raises eyebrows and makes mock-Gallic gesture with hands* is it worth it? For what is basically a forget-me-not on steroids? And one which quickly generates a big strong parsnip-like root....

Anyway, there you go, not quite a sad farewell to the Pear Lady, but I expect that by next year she will have disintegrated down into nothing and will be nothing but a fond memory.