May 14, 2020. Spring is so slow to arrive this year. While I never tire of looking at the water, I yearn to dig into the dirt too. Is it finally safe to put in perennials and sprinkle flower seeds? The weather forecast suggests that our below-freezing nights are finally behind us. I hope so, as I put a set of onions in the ground, then a few chartreuse-colored pieces of ground cover to add color to the ugly mud near the culverts, and then three big boxes of seed…marigolds and zinnia for the sunny spots, impatiens for the shade. I fiddled with a lot of plants in my small patio near Washington D.C., creating a panoply of color and size within the plots of dirt. Here, though, the growing season is so short and the watering so challenging (carrying buckets from the well). I wonder why I try. Perhaps it’s because the result, though brief, is so satisfying? I wish I could see that kind of result with people. If only consistent nurturing was enough to grow an honest and kind person. Well maybe it is! Maybe that’s why so many people act cruelly: because they lacked nurturing. Yes, I’ll believe that today. It makes it easier to feel compassion or at least empathy for them.
For Many Moons 