The Villages - September 2020 - 13

side of the yard. He asked, 'Does Don know?' I told
him we would surprise my husband. We planted
everything that day - everything."
In 2001, Loretta and Don moved to the Village
of Belle Aire. Five years ago, Loretta got the itch to
grow a garden again.
"I had the brick work done and started planting
things," she said, pointing to a bed of blue daze. The
rich, ruffled petals brighten the earth and mulch. A
lover of bluebirds, Loretta's garden hosts carefully
placed feeders and houses that attract fluttering
families of the round-bellied beauties.
"There," she says in a whisper, gesturing toward
a plump bluebird that swoops into the entrance of a
feeder.
Tucked between azaleas, Japanese iris, hibiscus,
gardenias, bougainvillea, succulents and all manner
of flora and fauna, you'll find a cast of charming
characters - garden statues: a pair of happy sheep,
a little boy catching fireflies, a child with a birdlined straw hat, a loving mother clutching a baby
to her chest. A frog pedals a bicycle bearing a plant
pot. A cat's tail curls up toward the sky, a perky
flower sprouting from the pot in its belly. A rustic
house perches on a moss-covered rock. "This was a
gift from my son," Loretta says. "It's getting a little
dilapidated, but I think I like it better this way."
Rounding the back of the house, a fountain
bubbles over on the sandstone patio just outside the
screened-in lanai. The sky is a dreamy blue with
threads of sunlight and clouds streaking through.
Loretta stands to admire her golf course view - the
impossibly perfect green mounds and the lake that
shines like a polished mirror.
"I'm in heaven when I'm out here," she says.

"I'm in heaven
when I'm out here."
- L O R E T T A VA R G O

MAGAZINE

13



The Villages - September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Villages - September 2020

Contents
The Villages - September 2020 - Cover1
The Villages - September 2020 - Contents
The Villages - September 2020 - 1
The Villages - September 2020 - 2
The Villages - September 2020 - 3
The Villages - September 2020 - 4
The Villages - September 2020 - 5
The Villages - September 2020 - 6
The Villages - September 2020 - 7
The Villages - September 2020 - 8
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The Villages - September 2020 - 31
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The Villages - September 2020 - 33
The Villages - September 2020 - 34
The Villages - September 2020 - 35
The Villages - September 2020 - 36
The Villages - September 2020 - 37
The Villages - September 2020 - 38
The Villages - September 2020 - 39
The Villages - September 2020 - 40
The Villages - September 2020 - 41
The Villages - September 2020 - 42
The Villages - September 2020 - 43
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The Villages - September 2020 - 45
The Villages - September 2020 - 46
The Villages - September 2020 - 47
The Villages - September 2020 - 48
The Villages - September 2020 - 49
The Villages - September 2020 - 50
The Villages - September 2020 - 51
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The Villages - September 2020 - 53
The Villages - September 2020 - 54
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The Villages - September 2020 - 57
The Villages - September 2020 - 58
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The Villages - September 2020 - 61
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