Local couple Louie and Jean Bembi took Taber’s best-yard honours this year in the annual Communities in Bloom yard competition.
Louie Bembi still doesn’t know quite what to make of it.
“Apparently so, but I have no idea who suggested it, because nobody knows about our yard. I have no idea how anyone would know that. It was a surprise when they phoned me to see if the Communities in Bloom people could come over and take a look at it. I said, ‘Jeez, it’s just our yard. It’s not that big of a deal’.’ Jean and I, yes, we take pride in our yard, but it’s our yard — that’s all.”
The couple is modest about the accomplishment, but Louie does allow for some small measure of recognition for their efforts. The Bembi home is located at 4810-40th Street.
“I didn’t think it would mean that much notoriety. To me, it’s just our yard. But it’s good.”
Both have their areas of expertise in caring for the yard surrounding their home.
“Absolutely — it’s our yard, we work in it together all of the time. But she’s more into the flowers thing, and I’m more into the hard-labour thing,” laughed Louie.
He explained their yard isn’t a manicured masterpiece but is intended to be a touch rough around the edges.
“We tried to make it an extension of the house, obviously because we like to sit in the backyard and enjoy it as much as we do the inside of the house. It’s not a yard that is cutesy — it’s more of a natural look, where it’s got lots of rocks and trees and bushes and wood things. So, it’s very much a natural, pleasant place to be — a sanctuary from the busy life of most of us.”
Pride or recognition is only a distant second as part of the equation.
“We’re proud of the whole yard,” said Louie. “But it was never meant to be  something to do because of pride, or a show thing. It’s not a show piece. It’s simply our way of living, period. We are not actually doing it — it’s just part of our home. It’s not as thought we set out to create a great yard.”
Like other activities around the house, the Bembis view yard care as something that simply needs to be done.
“I don’t think you can put an estimate of time. We do our weekly maintenance — it’s just maintaining a yard. Mowing the lawn, watering the lawn, doing whatever is necessary to maintain a yard. But it’s really not something that we consciously put time into. If it needs to be done, we do it. If it needs to be pruned, we cut it.”
The couple has lived in the home since it was constructed two decades ago, and they attempted to incorporate a loose theme from the outset.
“We built it in 1990. All of this stuff, quite obviously, everything is planned at one time or another, but nothing was planned for any particular reason, with the exception that we like it. I come from Italy, so we tried to make the house itself as well as the yard, sort of a Mediterranean feel. This is how it is when we come back home,” said Louie.
Louie has high praise for the larger community.
“We’ve been in Taber forever. We love being here, this was our whole life. Taber’s been good to us, and we like to be good to Taber. It’s a wonderful place to live.”