I’m going to try an’ get my soul free
We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
After a busy week, I resolved to not work again this weekend. That lasted about 15 minutes when I realized I had to send some slides to Charles, and that my conference presentation was Monday at 9:30! So tomorrow night will be spent trying to get a 90 minute lecture down to 15 minutes…hmm.
But I did get out some, went to the Peckerwood Gardens again, today in full sun, spectacular light, my eyes were a little dull though, I was too attentive to the other guests for the lecture and couldn’t follow my eyes with the lens very well. Maybe there is one or two good images, I’ll know after processing tomorrow night, and will post one of the better ones here.
Fall is in full swing, leaves are falling, there is a hint of yellow among the green masses of leaves, the squirrels are very busy, scouring the ground for seeds to last them through the winter. Temps are coolish 40’s at night, pleasant mid 70’s in the days.
Something has changed in the Brook Hollow neighborhood. The regular cycle of home health workers next door has stopped. I’m hoping this just means my neighbor is in the hospital, and hope nothing worse. But the absence of the usual shift changes made me sleep in this morning. Funny how a change can happen, and you notice it on some level, but it takes hours to have it bubble to the top where you can understand it.
That’s happening more and more lately. Things I’ve observed for years, but never “knew” are bubbling up to the surface for close examination. You can’t blame yourself for not seeing these things, but I wonder, is it like a barrel that needs filling to a certain level before you can see whats inside? If I could see each event independently, maybe it would have changed my life earlier, saved years of holding in…i think the barrel strategy is not the way to go for the future. I have to be more attentive to myself and what’s happening around me, and need to trust my judgment earlier.
I’m thinking I have three or four more visits to the garden ahead of me. I don’t know that but sense there is more to discover there besides the protective spines of the cactus. Maybe once again in Fall, and Spring. The whole budding/blooming analogy could be interesting to explore.
The garden was built by hand, as a life’s work, by John. He collected the plants, prepared the soil, and carried the water, all to give me an image in the camera. Well, we know that isn’t true, but if we looked at our work, our hobbies, our lives in that way, what would change? How could we live so that one day, one person we don’t know might “discover” our work and find some pleasure in it’s beauty? Maybe it means we all need to make some beauty every day. Reaching the high cereal in the grocery for the fellow who’s been staring at it, a kind word for someone you don’t know, a gift for a friend with a dying pet, remembering to say thanks to a co-worker for doing good work, for saying the right words.
I’m feeling like Forest Gump here, … “life is like a garden” “you never know what you’re gonna get when you plant the seed of beauty”…. and that’s all I have to say about that.
Be good to each other, be beautiful for each other, and stay safe.
