Garden Eden

I love walking in my garden. It's not big by any means, it's not glorious, it's deeply flawed like me, but on any given day, if I'm feeling stressed, a little walkabout has the power of grounding me (no pun intended!). I breathe in the smells, I take in the pleasing visual textures, from the various shapes of the leaves to the many hues of the petals and, like magic, the stress dissolves away. There's something satisfying about watching the plants grow and evolve and know that you and nature (mostly nature) had a hand at creating this.

My younger daughter has no interest in gardening. She claims that when she'll be older, she will live in a condo and make sure there's no garden to take care of. She doesn't know it yet but this will change. I remember I could care less too at her age. You could not have paid me to look at plants. I tell her we'll talk in ten years.

And I'm always sad when winter rolls around. I hate being cooped up inside. I like the windows wide open and fresh air streaming through the house. I have house plants but I just don't like them the same way as I do garden plants. Maybe it's the fact that it is so cyclical that makes me like the garden so much. If it was static and year long, I would get bored. Maybe it's the fact that it evolves constantly. As much as I dream of living in a warmer country, I think I would get bored of cultivating cacti. I need the variety, the constant change. After all, variety is the spice of life.