Tending Gardens

You’re going to see a lot of The View From Steve’s Camera this summer.  Hope you don’t mind.

Last week, I left Connecticut Legal Services, a wonderful place I had worked for 33 years.  This summer, Amy and I will be traveling, joined along the way by Sarah and then Rebecca.  In the fall, I hope to continue my work towards justice as I join “the gig economy.”

Our flight left New York the day after my last day at work.  I didn’t sleep very well on the plane; the view out the window looked much like what the inside of my head felt.

Fortunately, we were headed to England.  A wonderful set of Amy’s cousins live there, and I was looking forward to spending time with them.  Some of that time was, unexpectedly spent in a hospital, which turned out to be a surprisingly good place not only for Amy's Aunt Ruth to recuperate, but also for us all to visit.  

(Yes, charades in the hospital.  Couldn't get the doctors or nursing staff to play...)

A lot of the rest of our time was spent in gardens, and in lovely homes with big windows looking out at gardens.

Most of our relatives in England keep wonderful gardens.  Often there's a mix of vegetables and flowers growing.

So much time spent with growing plants made me think of promise and future.  These plums won't ripen for months; I am already sorry I won't be there when they ripen. 

In every garden there was great attention paid to color, to shape, to contrast, and to the use of space.

 

The gardens were wonderful to look at and to be in, even when it rained.

Gardens aren’t ever finished.  And in fact, the less finished they are, the more opportunity there is to think about what to grow, about what comes next.

The same might be said of work; or friendships; or our lives in general.

Here’s to cultivation and tending !