Good morning Linda ❤️

Thank you for sharing your memories of your grandmother and her garden. That’s the thing about gardens and gardeners. They continually invite you to look, smell, and feel. It’s one of life’s ways to encourage us to be present with what is right in front of us. There’s healing in opening up to our senses and taking in the beauty that surrounds us.

I know how important being in nature is to you. Your appreciation for color, scent, and the renewal of the seasons shows up in all you do.

Big hugs. 💜

I have vivid memories of my going to visit my grandmother in Troy, NY. When we’d arrive she’d give me a big bear hug, grab my hand, and say, “Come! I want to show you my garden.” Like your grandfather, my grandmother LOVED her garden. She grew flowers (roses too,) and some vegetables. What I remember is her passion, her joy of sharing the colors and scents, and making sure I stopped to see, feel, smell, and find wonder in every living thing.

While I never became a true gardener (I am a dabbler,) I have a tremendous love and respect for living, growing things. There is nothing more magical than spring. Each day new colors appear, turning the landscape from a dull range of browns and grays to vibrant pinks, yellows, greens and more. People often talk about stopping to smell the roses. Of course, they mean it poetically as in don’t rush away your life, but notice. I try to do that. But I also love to ACTUALLY stop to smell the roses or lilacs or any other beautifully scented plant I encounter. It’s one of the great joys in life.

Thank you for being here, Nancy.

It was childhood. Not an easy one. It had its ups and downs. My backyard, the garden, traditions and rituals, books and the special people in my life sustained me. These days I choose to focus and reflect on the memories that often get pushed back. They deserve to be seen and acknowledged too.

Big hugs ❤️

Thank you Kathleen ❤️

I wish you could have experienced the neighborhood and the garden the way they were, when you visited Greece. But like Natasha said …. change is the one constant. That’s where memory comes in to connect us to our roots … the good, the bad, and everything in between. In this case, I choose to focus on what sustained me.

A garden needs appreciators too. Having friends who appreciate our gardening efforts adds an extra layer of motivation. And you’ve been a great appreciator. Gardens are meant to be shared and enjoyed.

Hugs ❤️

Dearest Natasha,

Your reflection and response touched me deeply. Thank you. ❤️

I can so relate with your experience with roses. I tried for years and something would always happen and I had to be happy with the two or three seasons I had with them. The rose bushes that are in my garden now have been with me since 2015. That’s a record and I’m grateful for it. As you said … roses are the perfect reminders of the temporary nature of beauty.

You and I have shared some special moments in and out of the garden and I know how you feel about the earth you walk on and the beings you have been entrusted with. I love that about you.

Thank you for the precious image of The Little Prince by the way.

Love and hugs to you ❤️

As I read the first paragraphs, I was reminded of the little Prince and his rose and how lovingly, selflessly, he tended to her. I very quickly gave up on roses as a plant to invest my patience in, finding them either invasive (the wild ones) or too delicate. But now, I will look on the tiny plant that came with this house we are in, and I will appreciate its fragility in a new way- not be scared that this year it will develop a fungus or rare rose disease and die, but rather, I will try to pause to admire it, take it in, and think of you and your grandfather and receive the gifts of its beauty.

Thank you Yota for these thoughts that have me excited to go out now and just take in the plants as they are, take in the garden as it grows, less as “work that needs to be done” and more as beings to be with. 🙂