Things!
Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful
fire! More room in your heart for love,
for the trees! For the birds who own
nothing—the reason they can fly.
—Mary Oliver

In this first year of my eighth decade, I’m trying to focus more on cherishing life, love—and now. Pat, don’t worry about things. Even more, don’t worry about worries. (A big part: refuse to buy into the media’s constant avalanche of anxiety.) Do the work I can where I am. Serve. Love. Be. Worship. Appreciate. Put aside some time each day to read, meditate, and pray. My new motto: The present is a present. Admire it. Open it. Enjoy it.

Guess what? Because you’re gardeners, I know that you know what I mean. Gardening offers so many windows for love and appreciation. Especially now, in the most wonderful garden season of all, Spring. Lucky us. Let’s be sure to slow down…and enjoy it.

On a day
when the wind is perfect,
the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty.
Today is such a
day.
—Rumi

Pat Stone, Editor

Mary Oliver quote from “Devotions.” Rumi quote from “Love Poems from God.”