The Fluidity of Time In The Garden

I have spent much of the past two months walking the local cataract trails, had my nose stuck in a fair number of books of varying subject matter, and still I am finding it difficult to throw off our simian nature, adopt instead that of my totem, the wolf, and learn to live in the moment - the precise here and now. We tend to look 'through' the moments, gazing forward and back, but never staying in the here and now. 

And then I was going through my catalogue of garden pictures and was thrilled to discover that while they are so far as time is concerned, in the past, they are also, each and every one of them a moment in time, albeit one that has been forever frozen. 

I should like to postulate that time is circular, and as such maintains much the same momentum year after year. I need only look at my garden to find support for such an assumption. My garden comes to life every Spring, flourishes throughout the Summer, enters into it's gentle decline come Fall, and disappears ever so briefly during it's Winter hibernation. It repeats this process during a specific measurement of time, but it is this very circular [cyclical] nature that I am most comforted [and thus happy] with.

If we remove the passage of time from the garden equation, we are left with moments of incredulous beauty - moments that would hopefully be emblazoned on the mind's surface. Sadly, the simian nature of humanity chooses to look 'through', 'behind', and 'around' these moments - never content with the now! I am desperately trying to eradicate the simian mentality and replace it with that of the wolf - the lupin way of looking at life. Desires, wants and emotions give way to logic and reason. A wolf does not look at its future or its past, nor is it driven by, or held victim to its emotions. The moment that is precisely before its eyes is all that matters. I would like to say that I am most like the wolf when I am in my garden. The here and the now trump out everything else that is happening in the world around me. The lens of my camera, and subconsciously my own mind's eye is drawn to those moments that lay waiting for my discovery. There is no quest involved. How many missed opportunities do you think lay before a gardener each and every time they walk into their garden, regardless of the season, or time of day? 

The photos that make up this post represent such moments. They were there. The eye and the mind stumbled upon them and time as we know it stood still long enough for the rapid fire opening and closing of a shutter, the capture of a moment, at which point, I was contentedly at my happiest! There were no power struggles, none of the 'what can you do for me' manipulative maneuverings that the simian mindset embraces. It was a moment of unadulterated beauty - a moment that, were those brief seconds all there truly was to life, and would be repeated time and time again, for me would result in perpetual bliss! I look forward to these repetitive occurrences in the garden. Case in point: the photo above is of Trifolium repans, a smashing member of the 'clover' family. I wait, year after year for this precise moment that is forever frozen in this picture - when the first of the fuzzy flower heads emerge. They truly are as silkily soft as they appear. This year, my newest neighbour took it upon himself to tidy up his front yard [this after moving the vehicle that was parked on the front lawn for two months straight!] and in the process he trimmed what he took for a clump of clover. In an instant it was gone. It valiantly tried to grow back, but in that single blink of an eye all was changed. I mourned its loss as though it were a family member. Of course to me it is a family member. I realized that I missed the familiarity of witnessing its beauty week upon week throughout July. My only solace came in knowing that it would be there next year. The loop would repeat itself [theoretically, barring any unforeseen garden calamities!] and I would be 'content' once again. All of this fuels my belief that the onset and current onslaught of technology does not allow for people to experience contentedness in their lives. Stand still for longer than a second, and you find yourself left behind......

 ..... in the garden.....

..... in the midst of all of this beauty.....

..... to be able to witness....

..... moment after moment.....

..... moment after moment.....

..... each moment unto itself.....