Ephemeral Mysteries!

Summer is shining in all her glory and brilliance (and heat!).  I learn a lot about myself this time of year.  Besides the obvious perennial lesson (I can be a bit dense!) about my own limitations and my inability to recognize them, I am given many opportunities for more subtle teachings if I take a few moments to slow down, pause, and be mindful.  When I asked Amy tonight if she had any thoughts about a focus for tonight's newsletter, she talked about the ephemerality of summer. 

Ooooh blessed anticipation....the strawberries are finally here!  Hey, wait a minute!  Where did they go?  And what about the asparagus?  Oh!  Here are first peas!  Blink...gone.  And the fava beans and the lupines and on and on.  The cycle of anticipation, reveling in the joy of a beloved food/flower appearing, and then realizing its' absence until next year again.  In this age of global commerce, in the absence of the awareness of seasonality, we're losing these precious pleasures.  To await the appearance of that first summer tomato...for 9 long months...is a glorious thing.  To eat a "cardboard" tomato in January and think that we are actually experiencing a tomato is folly.  I can grab a camera and take a photo of the very first gorgeous poppy flower, pull out that photo in February and say, crystal-clear...there's that beautiful poppy!  Or I can slow down, sit and gaze at that poppy and get lots in its' beauty.  In February, I can look back in my mind's eye, fuzzy memory, and imagine the grand beauty of that first flower...ever magnified by the passing of time and clarity, and marvel in wonder. 

And if I give myself a few more moments of mindfulness and quiet I can take these thoughts and go a bit deeper.  Feeling discouraged and tired?  Poof!  The wind blows and I'm full of excitement and energy.  I settle into moments of secure steadiness and hear of another dear friend diagnosed with another serious illness.  Think an unkind thought?  Pause for a moment and the cloud passes.  It's refreshing to wonder at the magnificence of each moment and to realize the insignificance of each moment.  As one of our favorite musicians, Libby Roderick, writes:  "every breath a frontier".  Well friends, this pioneer is going to awaken tomorrow and inhale deeply, feel the brilliant sunshine on my head, the sweet breeze across my arms, and, with a little luck,the blessed raindrops on my face.  And make yet another vow to myself to revel in every crammed-full moment of busy-ness in this glorious season of summer. 

Give a call if you'd like to stop by and see Amy's Nursery (or just stop by and take a chance that you'll find her).  Her plants are beautiful and bountiful, and her stories about the pollinators and plants enchanting.  I learn something new from her each and every day. 
 

Amy's Nursery is open for business.  The updated list of plants available in Amy's pollinator nursery is now posted on the website.  All of Amy's plants have been chosen for their usefulness to bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.  We hope you will stop in for a visit and to chat about how to improve your garden habitat for pollinators.  The bees and butterflies are out and about!