Happy morning Travellers,

Today is Thursday for those of you keeping score at home…

Yesterday evening, I planted what I am referring as Phase 2 of my garden. I did my initial early planting, then last night filled it in with more veggies and flowers and lastly will plant some succulents. That is Phase 3. Those are not in stock yet at my local nursery.

And I’m sure by now you are thinking, “yea, yea, garden, blah blah blah, fabulous blah blah blah, happy happy joy joy stupid f*cking bunnies,” BUT really it IS that awesome. Gardening is just SO GOOD. As I was standing in front of my rather humble garden last night, I said out loud to my dog Lou, “THIS is the most wonderful time of the year!!” Not Christmas. Not for me. Right now.

And yes, I realize there’s the whole “Viral Apocalypse” happening and people are dying and life is awful and scary. BUT life beings anew. It’s already happening and will continue to happen. That is my actual VERY FAVORITE thing about gardening, it’s Anew. It’s a beginning, the beginning is the best part, isn’t it? Birthing something new, a new chance, a new story to tell…ushering life into this world, in all it’s forms, and watching it acclimate and learn. Without verbal articulation, watching the unfolding. Caring for it. Anew.

Isn’t that what we all want right now? Anew.

Are you familiar with THIS song? In the spirit of this moment, perhaps we could sing “I’m gonna make you love gardening” instead of “I’m gonna make you love me” Yes I will, Yes I will…You have to finesse the tempo, but try it, it works.

Okay, I know it’s not for everyone, but I think it’s worth my lip service.

Have you ever read THIS poem?

I know, I know, you’re like, “gardening AND poetry, Just kill me now, get it over with already…”

BUT WAIT…the verse goes like this: To see a world in a grain of sand;  and heaven in a wild flower; Hold infinity in the palm of your hand; and eternity in an hour.

I bet you’ve heard that before…

After those lines, the poem dissolves into a sort of riddled madness. And I’m yet to grasp it’s meaning to this day with the exception of the aforementioned lines. And I love the word augury. I’ve always thought it sounded like the name of an architectural feature of a church where the homing pigeons would live. I know that’s really specific, but somehow that’s what I think of when I hear the word.

An augury is an omen. Sometimes involving birds. Reading birds actually and their behavior. Interesting, right? Or some people just say it’s an omen. The poem is the omens of innocence which sounds spectacularly like the very reason people avoid poetry for the most part…Right?

I found this flower today and when I saw it’s bloom, I felt like I was looking at the universe. Because of it’s marking, it just looked like the night sky. Velvety Starry Brillance, but inside a flower. And I thought of that poem…and also THIS song…and it’s lyric that goes like this: “I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map. I knew that somehow I could find my way back.” 

I knew that somehow I could find my way back. That’s what the flower and my garden says to me. It’s my omen of sorts. And omen that I make for myself. That lyric is how I feel about my own life and that I’m on a path. And we, the human race, we can find our way back from this nightmare.

This flower appears to be full of the universe, lit from within by it’s stars. And we are all holding time in our hands right now, and every minutia of Earth is still earth, the dirt, the sand, when you touch soil, you are touching this home, this place that we are so fortunate to live within…

…sometimes there are just these random moments of beauty that seem to coalesce all these exquisite ideas of others in my mind. And that is the gift of being human. And being open to the world around you.

So I thought I would just tell you something good this morning …show you something beautiful this morning …

Tell me this isn’t the magic we are seeking…

I hope you find some joy today. Look for it, it’s looking for you…