More than "just living"
The Spring after Mirjam and I purchased our first home in Salt Lake City, Mirjam's parents came to visit. During their stay, they helped us with a lot of work around the house. The main project that needed to be tackled was landscaping the back yard (which involved building a small retaining wall, making a tile patio, and planting grass). Mirjam's dad (Bernd) also planted many fruits and vegetables for us. Underneath our deck he planted two grapevines. I loved those grapevines. The first few years they produced the sweetest grapes. But around our fourth summer the grapevines started looking different. The leaves looked like they were sick, and some would even shrivel. The vines still produced grapes, but far fewer; and the grapes they did produce would get bad looking spots on them (not the most appetizing). One fall we cut the vines back to almost nothing (hopefully getting rid of the sickness). The following spring things looked hopeful, but sure enough by fall it was plain...