I’m slowly working my way around the garden, only prepping areas that it’s time to plant seeds or seedlings in, leaving the rest alone until it’s time.  Yesterday I took the assorted poppy flower seeds out of their short strat period and cleaned up two areas in S’s garden and Y’s rock garden to plant them.  Then I prepped the strawberry bed and added the plants I’ve been growing from E’s seeds.  I’m hoping they’ll take over and produce actual strawberries.

I guess my motivation is a vision I’ve always had of helping a yard toward its potential of becoming a “secret garden”, a surrounding of beauty, tranquility, and health.  It will always be a work in progress, but the possibilities are endless, and the growing benefits to nature and humans are my motivation to keep working each day and year.  If I drop dead doing it, I still will have left the garden hopefully even more a refuge of life and spirit than I found it.  It’s one thing I feel like I can do fairly competently for others while they’re here.

Speaking of tranquility, the dynamic at the house is so different with S away.  Y isn’t as stressed about coming home from school, K can work on his HW undisturbed at the dining table, E can sit quietly in the living room without the tv blasting youtube idiocy, and I can hang out with them without constant interruptions and meltdowns.  I know Avdi can get more work done.  Things are still glaringly wrong with the world outside right now and for years to come, but it’s one less stressor to deal with in a crowded house.

Y actually talked me into walking all the way to the grocery store and back (to spend all their cash on sweets, but who’s judging!).  We had a good time talking about all sorts of things, and they even took my hand a few times, which never happens.  We got to walk on the pedestrian bridge over the highway, my first time, on the way back.  Even though it was exhausting for me to keep up and walk that far, it was worth it knowing they trust me enough now to spend time together and confide personal feelings.

K and I have also been bonding a lot over tech stuff that he’s creating from scratch out of electronic parts he buys.  He’s making me a “doohickie” to test moisture levels of plant soil in my lab.  He’s really skillful in this field, and it gives him practical incentives and experience building something that someone can use.  Half the time I have no idea what he’s saying, but I’m interested, and he takes pride in it.

Well, back to the garden with me.