Dirt

[vaneramos]

bitterlawngnome has essentially given me the run of his garden while he travels this spring. Since last fall, when I tore down the ricketty grape arbour and cleared some brush, there is a lot of bare soil. It's an empty palette.

It occurred to me yesterday as I began pulling up tree seedlings: I'm seldom happier than when my hands are in dirt. I ought to remember this fact, easily obscured by apartment living. I recall countless spring and summer days I spent as a teenager planning and planting an herb garden, vegetable garden and rock garden in different corners of my parents' property. I set up the rockery on the edge of the bluff overlooking Lake Erie, hidden from the house. It was one of many personal sanctuaries I created.

Speaking of recollection, the flower in this icon is Sempervivum, which means "always living". I watched for it every summer along the street where I lived until last summer. It has become for me a symbol of remembrance.

The backyard here in Toronto gets lots of sun. I'm considering planting some things that wouldn't get enough light, heat or elbow room in the little plot behind my apartment building.