"Each one is a gift, no doubt,mysteriously placed in your waking hand
or set upon your forehead
moments before you open your eyes.
Today begins cold and bright,
the ground heavy with snow
and the thick masonry of ice,
the sun glinting off the turrets of clouds.
Through the calm eye of the window
everything is in its place
but so precariously
this day might be resting somehow
on the one before it,
all the days of the past stacked high
like the impossible tower of dishes
entertainers used to bild on stage.
No wonder you find yourself perched on the top of a tall ladder
hoping to add one more.
Just another Wednesday,
you wisper,
then holding your breath,
place this cup on yesterday's saucer
without the slightest clink."
Billy Collins, "Days"
No snow, but plenty of glinting sunshine. My straggly red hibiscus bush, moved to a sunnier spot on the last day of last year, is glowing with happiness in the morning sun. The cones of my recently acquired Banksia "Erectefolia" are like miniature piles of stacked dishes.
Hoping for taller piles of stacked dishes of days for all my friends and loved ones. Happy 2008!
3 comments:
Interesting coincidence regarding you posting the Banksia pic. Yesterday I visited an Australian specialty nursery near Ojai, CA (20 miles south of my Santa Barbara home. It's owned by Jo O'Connell, an Aussie transplant. Though I've been designing gardens for over 30 years, there are so many Australian plants I haven't mixed into my palette. Yesterday was eye-opening and inspiring.
I've generally shied away from plants I didn't feel I could confidently vouch for in someone else's garden. Now, with Jo's help, I have expanded my "ingredients" by a few dozen plants. Now I just need a client who wants to play!
Jo's web site is http://www.australianplants.com/, and she's a few weeks from a complete web make-over.
Enjoyed your post.
The Billy Collins poem is a moving one - 'everything is in its place but so precariously this day might be resting somehow'.
The Banksia are a bright spot in my day as is your blog. Happy New Year!
Garden Wise Guy,
I'm learning to expand my garden with more drought tolerant plants. Stuff from other Mediterranean climates are perfect for us. I have killed my share of proteas and banksia is related, so it remains to be seen whether I can keep these guys alive. Thanks for the tip about Jo O'Connell.
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