It’s hard not to become a philosopher when living in a garden. This morning a particular play of sunlight on a rhododendron caught my attention. I looked closer and saw the flowers reflected in my pond.
I remembered this place when we first looked at it. The real estate agent brought us up a steep barely passable dirt road to the top of a hill. When we stopped at the top we were confronted with thick forest and a tangle of down limbs and logs. It was a sick monoculture. The trees were spindly and spaced too close together. The trunks were bare while the branches lurked in little tufts a hundred feet in the air at the tops of the trees. We went away.
The location of the property was handy for my husband’s work, but it was also in the arsenic shadow of the ASARCO copper smelter that polluted the air, land and water of this area for a hundred years. We looked at more properties. They didn’t suit our needs. We looked again at the ugly piece near the ferry and asked for an analysis of the well water. The water was free of arsenic and of excellent quality. I had some ideas for dealing with the arsenic in the soil. We decided to buy the sick, ugly piece of land.
Thirteen years later I look out at my glorious flower farm and remember that drab piece of property with it’s sick trees. I think life is what we make it. Sometimes our circumstances are drab, sick and ugly. However, we do have the ability to create beauty around us. We need to know ourselves and know what we like and what our limits will allow us to do. Working with a firm grasp of our reality we can create beauty whatever our circumstances even if that beauty is only in our minds.
Today, now, each of us can take the first step to creating beauty wherever we are. Focus on what is beautiful, peaceful, loving and gentle. As I avoided harsh chemicals in creating my oasis of beauty, we need to avoid harsh thoughts and remarks in our mind. As we focus on peace, shutting out the lies and clamor of the world we will begin to create beauty around us.
I remembered this place when we first looked at it. The real estate agent brought us up a steep barely passable dirt road to the top of a hill. When we stopped at the top we were confronted with thick forest and a tangle of down limbs and logs. It was a sick monoculture. The trees were spindly and spaced too close together. The trunks were bare while the branches lurked in little tufts a hundred feet in the air at the tops of the trees. We went away.
The location of the property was handy for my husband’s work, but it was also in the arsenic shadow of the ASARCO copper smelter that polluted the air, land and water of this area for a hundred years. We looked at more properties. They didn’t suit our needs. We looked again at the ugly piece near the ferry and asked for an analysis of the well water. The water was free of arsenic and of excellent quality. I had some ideas for dealing with the arsenic in the soil. We decided to buy the sick, ugly piece of land.
Thirteen years later I look out at my glorious flower farm and remember that drab piece of property with it’s sick trees. I think life is what we make it. Sometimes our circumstances are drab, sick and ugly. However, we do have the ability to create beauty around us. We need to know ourselves and know what we like and what our limits will allow us to do. Working with a firm grasp of our reality we can create beauty whatever our circumstances even if that beauty is only in our minds.
Today, now, each of us can take the first step to creating beauty wherever we are. Focus on what is beautiful, peaceful, loving and gentle. As I avoided harsh chemicals in creating my oasis of beauty, we need to avoid harsh thoughts and remarks in our mind. As we focus on peace, shutting out the lies and clamor of the world we will begin to create beauty around us.
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