Yule 1997

One cold gray morning, standing out on my deck in the crisp air, I idly surveyed my yard. I looked at the leafless Japanese Maple surrounded by brown fallen ferns. I saw naked stumps starkly outlined by thorny berry vines and I thought how empty it looked, how barren and lifeless it seemed.

Then I thought of all the hard work that had gone into my yard and of all the fun and laughter that was a part of my yard. Immediately I was reminded of my family and friends. Visions of Mom, Dad, Bob, Laney and I hauling a truckload of earth, bucketful by bucketful. Filling the raised herb beds that Bob and Dad had built. Thoughts of Karen sharing mounds of Rosemary and stalks of tall Bronze Fennel. Mom gladly gifting me with her Iris and Hyacinth. Elaine bringing me half of her yard.

I smiled at the remembered joy of planting my special Celeste Rose and the excitement I felt when Mom found the climbing roses I remembered from my childhood. Mmmm and the delectable taste of biting into a huge strawberry from Bob’s strawberry patch.

I took another look at my yard…..

Instead of barren soil and empty gardens I saw the future. I saw hundreds of bulbs sending slim green spears skyward, reaching for the sun, bursting with blossoms. I envisioned tight fiddles of ferns slowly unrolling and stretching out, fighting their way thru a cascade of golden leaves trailing over the stump. One perfect Trillium framed by curly Ivy, a carpet of Sweet Woodruff, the scent wafting from the Lavender bush. I thought how full it looked, how fertile and verdant it seemed.

And I thought, life is like my yard….

Photo by: Celesté