I fell asleep beside an open window lulled by cool air and the sounds of a steady rain, slept deeply and then awoke early to overcast skies, a garden whose thirst had been quenched and a misty continuation of the night's precipitation. After coffee I wandered the garden and pictured its wonders for a couple of hours, procrastinating on several things that probably should be dealt with, you know, one of these days real soon.
By noon the July sun had burned through the heavy layer of clouds and the world was beginning to warm a bit. Everywhere in the garden, lush foliage, bird songs, buzzing bumbles and fragrant blooms, and that sense of outlandish wealth (though not the sort my banker would understand), that comes from being able to cut freely in the garden and hardly be able to tell what was taken or from where. So yes, this bumbling gardener who has just picked a quart and a half of of raspberries and cut a lush bouquet of 'Maid of Kent' roses is grinning because, who wouldn't?
I'm trying to do better about treating summer like summer this year, making time now for things that will help make winter's dark days more bearable. It feels especially important somehow to make time to change out the tired bouquet at the back door atelier, to pick shelling peas, to weed a stretch of the flower bed, to snip handfuls of herbs and set them to drying, to make jam, to write a bit of a story...
Sometimes a fella just needs to wade in fast water and toss flies to willing fish with a fly rod he's loved for nearly twenty years, or hike up grassy mountainsides, nap in the shade of a sandpaper leafed tree and listen to fiddle music and cricket song while cooking supper on a camp stove in fading light. We are not meant to work constantly, or rob ourselves of the joy of simple pleasures just because we know several someones who constantly talk about how very, very busy they are and how they just don't have time to do the silly sorts of time wasting things that we revel in.
Yeah, I'm grinning, alright. I'm grinning because I'm getting better, if only a little, at not trying to keep up with anyone else. Or everyone else. Life's too short. I've lost too many friends and loved ones recently, people whom I admired and adored, who thought surely they had more time. And then, well, they didn't. What I wouldn't give to have more time with any one of them. One more walk in the woods. One more conversation by the fire. One more lame joke. One more awkward hug…
There's no telling how many more rainy mornings I'll get to wake up to. How many Julys filled with roses and grilling, and backpack trips. How many Saturday afternoon matinees, holding hands and laughing out loud with my sweetie. So I'm saying yes wherever I can, and cutting flowers for the kitchen table, and drying garlic and making time to make the kinds of pictures and tell the kinds of stories I love. Payback for all those years making other people's pictures and telling their stories whether I believed in them or not.
It's damned sure no way to get rich, or famous. But it'll put a grin on your face and at least double the number of beautiful things you notice in a day, which seems like more than enough to make up for the disapproval of those who are just certain you're wasting your time and acting like a damn fool.
What the hell do they know?
I'm goin' fishing!
(First told this little story over on Facebook back in 2019, so a few of you who know me from back then may feel that you’ve been here before. The Maid of Kent roses are blooming once again, I just cut a small bouquet of them, yesterday and I’m feeling the itch to toss some flies while standing in a river …and wander, so it explains or hints at several things that, once again are true. )
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I love this, for everything it meant then, and all that it means now. I'm smiling, too, and wishing you that secret happiness that wells up unbidden, unknown to anyone but you. The river holds out its gifts, some just for you, and I know you will give something of yourself back as you immerse into the place you love---the simple act of being there, fully, In joy. No better place to be...
Every moment with garden roses or river, or with loved ones, is good these days...
Thank you for this glimpse, my friend...
Yay! Can I come fishing too? I promise to keep relatively quiet and civilized.