Thursday, May 25, 2006

Thoughts from the Garden

Yesterday I spent the entire day in the yard. That is one of my favorite kind of days, nothing else to do but dig in dirt and heave things around the yard. I love the immediate gratification of seeing the winter ravaged flower beds turned back over to rich brown earth and then carpeted with colorful flowers. This year it's snapdragons, marigolds, red rockets and raspberry freeze. Some droopy blue viny things and some round leaved tall blue things. I never care what anythings called, I pick flowers at the nursery by shape and color, read where they should be planted and name them something else. By the end of the day, with the mulch in place, my arms tingling with sunburn and my back aching with muscle strain, I feel like I've really done something. I'm reminded that I'm okay.

The process of "getting the yard in order" is different from "taking care of the yard". I take care of the yard every day. Stolen moments watering, trimming, mowing or picking at something. Twice a year I put things to rights. Once in spring when it's the season of new beginnings, and then in fall when I try to prepare it for the long freeze ahead. My best life planning is always done in the garden.

No comments: