My Own Eden

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of my favorite movies is “The Wizard of Oz”. It is the first movie I remember seeing at a movie theater and a movie my children and I watched over and over again. I love the characters, I love the songs, and I love the way the movie changes from black and white to color when Dorothy leaves her house to enter Oz and Munchkin Land. At the end of the film Dorothy is asked what she has learned from her experiences and she replies: “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard.”

I like to think of myself as a gardener. Each year I know spring has arrived, not because the weather is getting warmer or more birds are singing outside my bedroom window each morning, but because I feel it in my bones. My garden “calls” to me. I feel a compulsion to dig in the dirt and plant flowers. I think it is genetic. My paternal grandfather planted a vegetable garden every year and he had grapevines and roses. My maternal grandmother’s yard was filled with snapdragons, hollyhocks, hens and chicks, and tomato plants growing next to the garage. When I work in my yard, when I plant, water, mulch and sow, I feel I am carrying on a tradition. My grandparents are with me and I am creating my own Eden.

Yesterday was the perfect day. It was warm, but not hot. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and my five dogs stayed close by while I pulled weeds and mulched the beds surrounding the Koi pond my family had created in our back yard six years ago. After my work was done, I sat in one of the Adirondack chairs next to the pond with my lap dog Pinch and read a book. Birds drank from the stream and fed at the nearby bird feeder, the dogs chased squirrels and wandered through the various garden rooms I have created, and for a few moments the problems of the every day world disappeared.

"What is paradise, but, a garden, an orchard of trees and herbs, full of pleasure and nothing there but delights." ~William Lawson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~