“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” ~Oscar Wilde
As the hydrangeas turn I find I am totally caught off guard by their decision. I walk right by them everyday. I cannot miss them as they are everywhere around Camp MP. They brush my legs when I walk to the driveway as they have tumbled onto the walkways and they greet me at the front door, back door... The "quick" turn from classic hydrangea blue to "it's time for me to sport my fall flair" pinky-mauve happened in a blink. In a time when nothing is working as it should the gardens at Camp MP do get that it is September...even if the keeper of the gardens has NO clue!
How is it September? Seriously I missed a month or two or three or...I spy berries bursting forth on the trees, hear the acorns starting to do their fall drop dance on my neighbor's deck, watch as spots of leaves on random trees paint themselves into autumn...but summer? Yes, it was hot, sticky, buggy, but was it summer and if it was where did it go?
The gardens at Camp MP have always held lessons for me: patience as I plant and wait for the sign of buds and blooms; perseverance as the critters chomp away and I refill all the holes they dig and replant what they pop out to make room for what they feel is more important; persistence and determination as for every one weed I dig out 100 more appear in their place...but always, always, the gardens have whispered hope.
“Go, sit upon the lofty hill, And turn your eyes around, Where waving woods and waters wild Do hymn an autumn sound. The summer sun is faint on them— The summer flowers depart— Sit still— as all transform’d to stone, Except your musing heart.” ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
After winters with hundreds of inches of snow the gardens for the most part do what they are assigned to do-they pop up, they grow green and in as many cases as possible they bloom. This year where the world just stopped, my gardens ignored what was happening around them and simply burst forth. They promised with each bud and bloom that while everything else seems upside down it is OK. They want me to stop. They want me to loo. They want me to pay attention, not just to them, but to all I usually miss when the speed of "normal" time carries me. They tell me they know better and that NOW is what counts and that maybe there is a lot that when the clock starts again for all of us we may not need to care so much about.I have very wise hydrangeas!
So now, as the seasons turn and I am once again looking for summer as it is waving so long, I turn to my gardens for their wisdom, for answers. What's next? As the hydrangeas turn I may be surprised, but I am also relieved and grateful that they are there for me to look to, to ground me, to guide me, and to say OK girl it is time to move forward-keep moving forward and be well!
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” ~F. Scott Fitzgerald
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