A Trail woman whose hanging baskets were returned to her a day after they were stolen says she’s grateful for their return and also to an anonymous Good Samaritan who replaced one of them.
Marjorie Mast, whose Groutage Avenue garden is well-known to people who cross the Columbia River Skywalk, says one morning last week she discovered the baskets that hung from either side of her front door were missing.
It came a few days after the theft of a connecting pipe on her hose. She didn’t hold out much hope for their return, but phoned police and spoke to Cst. Kevin Johnson “who was very, very nice. He said ‘I’ve got a feeling I might know where they are.'”
Mast didn’t know at that time that another local gardener who had been the victim of theft had followed the dropped petals from his stolen flower pots to a home on Oak Street. Johnson went there and discovered the missing baskets.
The next morning he knocked on Mast’s door.
“He said ‘come and have a look.’ They’re a little worse for wear. One of the containers was totally broken, but that was no problem. I redid it and re-nursed them at the side of my house.”
But there was more to the happy ending. When Mast went for coffee that afternoon, she returned to find “the most beautiful hanging basket” on her patio.
“You always hear about the bad people,” she says. “There are a lot of good people out there. They’ll never know how good it did my heart. I get really emotional when I think about how someone was so thoughtful to do that.”
She has not discovered who was responsible. A couple of people suggested it might have been the police, but when Mast called Johnson again to tell him what happened, he said “I wish we’d thought of it.”
Mast says she gardens not just for herself, but for those who walk by. “Plus it keeps me out of trouble.”
In addition to her garden, the property was famous for the pug she used to have. His name was Boris, but he was dubbed the Groutage Greeter.
You can hear the entire interview below.
