In exchange for my appreciation of the much-needed rain that is still falling, the Universe this morning gifted me with one of those ephemeral moments of bliss inspired by sheer natural beauty. Turns out that beauty has been in front of me all along, whenever it rained, but I chose not to see it because I was so busy being cranky.

As I said in my last post, we have lived on this half-acre site for over 20 years, and while the landscaping is not completely developed to my vision of the space, what plantings we have are those selected and/or planted by me over that time, so there is great personal satisfaction in how those have turned out.

This house was very small when we moved in, so our Christmas trees were small. And we have always had cats, who like to eat pine needles and then throw up, which is no fun; we learned by trial and error that the type of tree least likely to suffer such depredations is a Leyland Cypress. For a decade we bought our holiday trees at the local nursery and planted them in the yard in January; now they are huge (the utility company has to come and trim them below the wires every year or they would be even bigger), and make an excellent screen between our property and the neighbors in front, closer to the road.

And in the rain, they are astoundingly beautiful, a multitude of shades of green, lighter at the tips of the branches which reach up toward the sun even though it is invisible behind a thick layer of clouds which has, for the moment at least, ceased to release more water, allowing the earth and its creations to process this storm’s gift.

Seven Sages

I have been planting different species of sages (salvia in its many different variations) for almost as long as we have lived here. Not all have lived, since my attitude has generally been “you’re on your own” after a relatively short period of support with supplemental water, but it’s time to add to some new specimens to the garden. To avoid duplication, I went out to take pictures of the survivors, and was delighted to discover them to be seven in number.

Coincidence? I think not… Seven sisters, they show their age and personality, their scars and struggles, as we all must do one way or another.

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But I feel that the sisters are willing to increase that number, to expand their company and welcome newcomers into their midst, so I will take my pictures to the nursery and find new sages to add their flowers and fragrance to the garden. And when the rains stop, I will water the newcomers, even in the face of this drought, until they are established and can hold their own, because they have a rightful place in the world, in this place, for this new year and the time to come.

Today brought another gift as well, also magical, the gift of a word that brought me great joy, but that’s another story …