As Fleeting as a Breath

The dandelions, violets, and daffodils have been gone weeks now, the bright purple and gold combination replaced by a paler version of buttercups and lilacs. The lilacs final blooms have also shriveled, although the buttercups came back after mowing, tiny sparks of gold brightening the dull sameness of the lawn. The glorious huge snowballs of my Spirea Van Houtte are began to show bits of light brown around the edges, like cookies about to be overdone, and then slowly faded away, leavind a memory of their scent. They come and go so quickly, my busy days give me scant time to enjoy them, still less to photograph them. What? Low battery? Oh No! No Batteries!! Wait a day, please wait, but no, again, for in a day buds turn to blooms and a flower’s life is as fleeting as a breath. I went out on a Saturday morning and low and behold, the remaining irises had sent up stalks with buds. By twilight I went to water and there was a fully opened blossom. By the next morning there were two more. The irises are now gone, as is the magnificent show my peony put on, enormous pink Blossoms all over a hugh mound of dark green foliage. So beautiful and fragile, just  two rain showers left me with pink confetti in the grass and put an early end to their glory.

The most precious things are the most ephemeral. Those that touch  the senses and trigger memory. It is a challenge to arrange life so that you can appreciate an enjoy those fleeting moments. The outside world makes so many demands, it is so easy to loose perspective. When one of the cats comes to me for a lap or a cuddle or petting, I have to stop and remind myself how short their lives are, how little they ask, how a moment not given them can never be returned to. Dolly, always so skittish and shy, finally feels safe enough, secure enough, to come and lay down against my thigh to sleep. How can I get up to do housework or filing when I patiently waited, building trust for years, to achieve such a moment? So I grab my laptop and spend a few minutes deleting obsolete emails and responding to those that need it.

A wrenched knee threw a spanner in the works of all my plans. How annoyed with myself I was for slipping on seemingly nothing, how frustrated, knowing I would only heal if I rested it and did not overexert. So much to do! I decided, however, to make the best of it and not be punish myself. I adapred to the situation and set up my laptop where I could elevate my leg and started clearing my paperwork and business backlog, working on website design and catching up on my on-line classes, alternating with Reiki sessions on myself.  There are always other useful courses of action. The universe nodded it’s approval and started a non-stop week and a half of cool rainy days so I did not have to worry about watering. The universe does not do weeding, though, so in that time in the back garden, the mint had a mad race to grow faster than the creeping charlie could grow over it. The , the lovage bloomed and the horseradish leaves became as large as banana leaves. Fortunately they are just as good in a stir fry as smaller ones would have been in a salad. I would hate to waste all that greenery. I went from a few buds, to blossoms and berries on the blackberry bush. Since the universe does not pick for me either I was lucky to be able to rig a screen tent while the berries were still green. I only had a handful of strawberries this year. The blackberries are my favoriye and I’ve waited three years for this, so I really didn’t want to loose any. I am so looking forward to the day I see my first ripe berry. In a moment it will be picked, eaten and a memory. A moment money cannot buy. A taste as fleeting as a breath.