THE PERFECT GARDEN – in the manner of Sen no Rikyu

The  morning sun warms my garden.

I’ve scrubbed  and cleaned the pebbly patio floor.

Hosed the stone walls down.

Washed and rearranged the furniture.

Plumped the pillows.

Wiped clean the garden pots erasing the dust of winter.

Cleaning,  this care of objects,  is good for the soul.

The garden look perfect – too perfect.

I remembered a story about the Japanese tea master,   Sen no Rikyu.

He had asked his son to clean the path leading to the tea garden.  The son carefully swept and scrubbed.  Sen no Rikyu inspected the work.  “Not complete” was his response.  The son repeated the taste with even greater care.  Again it was not accepted.  He cleaned a third time certain that every speck of dust was washed away.  Rikyu just shook his head.  The son in desperation shouted, “Well, you show me how to do it, then!”  The tea master walked to a small tree near the path and gave it a vigorous shake.  A rain of leaves sprinkled the path.  “Now the garden is perfect.”

With a respectful bow to the Japanese tea master,  Sen no Rikyu,  I gave my camellia tree a shake.

Now the garden is perfect.

MORE BLOOMING CAMELLIAS

I’m like a mother with a child.

Watching each bloom appear.

I count the blossoms

Like a child’s first steps.

Then in the deepest, darkest night

the wind came.

Then rain.

They rattled and raged

at the windows.

My camellias

Oh my poor darlings.

Early morning.

I crept out in my polka dot pajamas.

Just one.

The wind took just one.

You’re growing.

I count your blossoms in my sleep.

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE

 

 

“Good morning sunshine, I hope you’re well.

Honey I missed you, last night when night fell.

You should know, sunshine, you brighten my day.

The world gets so dark, love, when you go away.”

…lyrics Alex Day

 

I couldn’t help singing this morning.  I awoke to brilliant sunshine.

This  rare event these past winter months must be captured.  It has been day after day of cloudy skies and more rain than we have experienced for many, many years.

I caught the glorious early morning  sun.

The dried hydrangea basked in it remembering the past summer.

Sunshine,  I’ve missed you.

 

A DOZEN OR MORE MARVELOUS THINGS TO DO WITH MEYER LEMONS

Hold a plump, silk-skinned  Meyer lemon in your hand.

Caress it.

Close you eyes and breathe its intoxicating perfume.

Imagine its sweet tart taste of honey and thyme  on your tongue.

A Mother’s Day gift from my son this sturdy little tree spent the summer in the sun.

Now it grows in a corner window catching the sunlight.

Today I began to harvest my Meyer Lemon Tree.  I’m anticipating what I shall do with this precious fruit.

Perhaps I’ll candy the peel, dust it with superfine sugar and serve it with a glass of sherry.

Or rub a little of peel around the rim of a delicate demitasse of espresso.

Then again I could arrange thin slices of Meyer Lemon on to a pizza crust, top it with goat cheese and just the smallest amount of fine chopped rosemary.

I’m thinking sweet thoughts about my very own Meyer Lemons.  Pure bliss would be to use them in lemon curd or custard.

Even easier would be to grate my Meyer lemon into a bowl full  of sweetened whipped cream.

I could celebrate my harvest of lemons with a lemon gimlet.  I would squeeze one of the little darlings, add it with a touch of zest, soda water  and a goodly amount of vodka to a sparkling cut- glass  tumbler.

I always have Prosecco in my refrigerator.  For a treat I would take the lemon juice, add some simple syrup and a strip of peel and top my champagne glass with Prosecco

To go with my cocktail or Bellini I would cut pumpernickel bread into the thinnest of slices, spread a little sour cream on the bread some smoked salmon, thinly sliced lemon and a sprinkle of capers.

Of course I could make lemonade, stuff a duck,  make preserved lemons, put it on poached salmon, make lemon gelato.

Or just put these treasures   in a blue bowl and enjoy.

GARDENING WITH THE BIG GUNS

The perennial garden was long over due for a make-over.  Two dying  rhododendrons,  more than thirty years old,  needed removal.     It was a grunt job that would take The Good Husband several hours of deep digging.

The log retainers need removal, also.   This was going to take all day.

“Not so” said my friend and neighbor.  We’ll bring in the big guns.

The Good Husband and the Good Neighbor hustle the logs away.

This will be the first tree to be removed.  Good Neighbor Perry will finesse the job without damaging the Japanese maple.

Thirty minutes later – the deep-rooted rhododendrons are cleared.   We were  so grateful to  Good Neighbor Perry who took the time to bring in “the big guns”.  And,  He has another present for me -  several loads of well rotted manure and earth.   Nothing makes a gardeners heart beat faster than a load of manure. It promises to be a glorious new garden.  Bring on summer.