Random Thoughts For April 2020 After Sitting In My Garden

It’s important to take a few minutes amidst the chaos of today’s news

Well now, have you looked outside – really taken a good look – and noticed the important things in life are still standing amidst the carnage of this virus.

The sky is still blue and the air is getting cleaner and less polluted. Sunsets off our island don’t have a yellow tinge to them. Birds are flocking back to our island from down South (as are we).

But, I’m missing some of the important things in life – chatting with friends in person and hugging my grand-babies. There’s only so far the virtual world will go in making us feel human.

And yes, I’m all too aware of others who have paid a steeper, darker price.

And that’s why, last night on April 1, I bundled up to sit on our back porch with a beer, watched the wind play with the waves and made a list of the important things in life.

My list will likely share things with your list – friends, family, and gratitude for the random acts of strangers as we all face an uncertain day.

And yes, my garden.

And that my friends is something we have in common.

A garden – that paradise right outside our door – is a refuge no matter the weather. It’s something that you can use now and moving forward after this challenge is over to recreate the silent peace that fills souls.

It’s as far away from the incessant clicking of social media and the outrage of different politicians (of all stripes) as you can get.

So I’m Doing Something Unusual.

I’ve already dropped several social media systems (Twitter for example hasn’t seen me live in years now.) and I deleted my LinkedIn account.

I used Facebook mostly for the page our island has where we help each other. (Because we’re “of an age” and at risk, folks have been doing shopping for us and we’ll have some tomato seedlings and other things for the island this spring.)

The rest of it – the promotional and reader-engagement parts – are less and less important. In many ways, readers have shown me that as they too focus on things other than gardening.

We all ignore more and more the things that are irrelevant to our lives. (And Facebook itself continues to dun me to advertise, to spend money to get my posts in front of readers. Screw that.)

Instead I’ve Rediscovered Life

I’m chatting with fellow islanders from opposite sides of our country road as we all take walks.

I wander down to the water to listen to the waves in their yearly battle with my big old concrete dock.

I’m spending more time with books. (You remember those – lots of black squiggles on sheets of white paper).

I’m listening to the sounds of my life

• To the songs of newly-arrived birds as they establish territories.
• To the sound of the wind coming off the water and rustling the long grasses and scraping evergreen branches across each other.
• To the sound of cars on the road and the roar of the ferry diesel engines straining as they push the boat away from the dock.
• To the clack of my keyboard.
• To the voice of my lover.

And Garden Writing?

I’m posting a series of how-to garden notes on a brand new section of this website. These are being written as a series of courses to help new gardeners succeed this summer – whether it’s a vegetable garden or a small urban container garden.

Those will show up one day. Soon, I hope. But not today.

Today is for looking out the window at the water. It’s for wandering the garden to compile a list of things that should be done – and might even get done.

And for hugging my sweetheart.

Particularly for hugging my sweetheart.