A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them. ~Liberty Hyde Bailey~

A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.
~Liberty Hyde Bailey~

It’s tending season again.  I’ve been out in the garden doing out in the garden things.  I love to be outside with my hands in the earth while my thoughts roam freely; ideas arrange themselves and dots connect while the birds sing and my hands do tedious tasks.   The tending seems instinctual, but really it’s hard won.  I’ve learned the hard way which plants to water and which ones need to be removed all the way down to their sneaky little odd root systems.

yarrow

The metaphors are unmistakable.

Cleaning up after a dormant season.

Weeding properly…and over and over and over.

Prepping the soil for planting.

All necessary in the garden and in my creative practice.

In the pages, I’m chasing the metaphor into the notion of thriving.

Where do I thrive?  How do I thrive?  

Where does major effort need to be expended?  

I’ve been shifting time and energy around in my life to be sure that my creative practice is thriving.  Weeding my calendar and planting the seeds of daily discipline and consistency.

Iris

And some days like today, I water my soul deep.  I get behind the camera and notice.  I take a hot minute for a cup of tea and I say important words in all the right places.

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#lifepoints today:

  • Exchanged laughter and insight with my daughter-in-law at the table by the window.  The best. Just the best
  • Created an action list and actioned
  • Phone call with a far away friend
  • pages and more pages

BE in your life,

Betsy