My favorite spot in the city

There is a community garden at Fort Mason. It is fenced in and behind the buildings, so I think a lot of people miss it or think that it's private property. But, I have a secret... it's not. I figure I can make this announcement since I only have a few friends reading my blog and I trust you all to love and respect this place and not tell too many people. I like the fact that there is a solumn peacefulness to it.

This place is magic. It must be. The colors, the blooms of the flowers, the smells, the life - it's amazing. Every little plot is unique and bursting with different flowers, plants, and vegetables. I like to get lost amongst it all, a maze of garden jungle.

The reason I like this place so much is becasue it completely enthralls me. I am there fully. Smelling, feeling, exploring and in full consciousness of adoring each and every garden plot.

I like this place best early in the mornings when the fog is still cradling the bay. I can walk around the garden and be the only one there. And there is something about smelling a flower on its vine in a garden at dawn that is so pure and untainted by the rest of the day.

I also ;ove coming here with my husband. It turns us into to kids, pointing to the plants and flowers that capture our imagination.

Yes, this is my favorite spot in the city.

Here dahrling, don't you ever forget it!

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. - Sophia Loren

Rain

I like the rain. The pureness, the power, the way it cleans and washes away the old and dusty.

It's form; too many drops to count, but each one transforming the object it touches. Giving it a deeper, richer color, and a new character.

It was time for it to rain. The plants needed it. And so did the people of San Francisco. They needed to bathe and wash their chilly, dirty streets.

Rain has a way of comforting the soul. It slips people a reason to daydream and come up with a thousand other things they would rather be doing than going to work in the rain.

A perfect day to curl up and watch a movie with your love. Maybe even bake some cookies, play a game, read a book, or catch up on that Blog you meant to write last week.

On a Tuesday though... oh rain. Come again another day when we can stay in and play.

Still, it was nice to see you stick around all day. You weathered us well and gave us plenty to drink and enough to wash our hands and streets.

I see it as a promise

I wanted to title this blog blurp "shame". It's not a very nice word, that's for sure. It has an onomatopoeia quality to it that evokes fear, sadness, and disappointment. No, I don't like shame.

I was going to name this post "shame on me".... Because I had wanted to keep this blog thing going. Give it a real solid shot by writing regularly. Oh, how easy it is to put things off, especially when I was planning the wedding and trying to do a hundred other things. Too many excuses, and an exhausting list of ideas to write about. So, I wrote nothing at all. It makes complete sense.

Instead of the shameful word of shame, I have decided to look at this as a promise. It's a very Buddhist approach, but one that feels more inviting. I may even want to stay a while. I would like to write often. So, this is a promise, a working promise to write more and capture the things in my life that I try so hard to savor.

I have been incorporating meditation into my life again recently. And it makes me feel grounded and aware. I miss it, and miss the things that I was able to see, do, and feel when I had the practice of sitting in my life. It's amazingly powerful what a little sitting can do for one's soul.

Here's to working promises, writing, sitting, and loving.