A Better Job

 Now

That

All your worry

Has proved such an

Unlucrative

Business,

Why Not Find a better

Job

-       Hafiz, Find a Better Job

This is the best Spring I’ve experienced in years. The Kid is home from the war, bearing invisible scars but smiling again. The back yard projects have been completed and now, when I go outside to play, I putter around, deadheading, repotting, rearranging instead of fretting over all the work still to be done.

The old waterfall at the top right of the above picture was long neglected and overgrown. Because of it's hight above the rest of the yard, it was visible from everywhere in the backyard – a silent reproach to my unfinished business. Because the large rock was cracked and difficult to seal, repairing the original waterfall’s path from the top beneath the large black wind chime and resealing the crack down to the pond would have involved more of an investment than we were willing to make.

Instead, the amazing pond guy made a smaller and more efficient waterfall that returns from the cleaned out and re-plumbed filter back behind the large rock on the left. The new setup is easier to maintain, less likely to leak, and makes just as lovely as sound. The gently splashing water reminds me how much I’ve missed it. It is almost as magical as the sound of my kitty with her head on my shoulder purring into my good ear. 

I have planted a rock garden where the old falls were, anchored by the large rock moved (from the lower center of above picture, next to Simone, the large rubber lizard) by the pond guy who I bribed with a pot of the overgrown green goddess calla lily that had taken over the entire shallow end of the pond.

Later, I persuaded the yard guys to move the big turtle from elsewhere in the backyard to the top of the big rock. I later wrangled the turtle into place next to the large rock. Together, the turtle, and the big rock to his right offer not only a sitting place from which to garden and view the pond, they anchor the other rocks and dirt for the succulents to root. 

It took the birds about a week to rediscover the fresh pond. The more modest waterfall seems to satisfy the mourning doves and other birds that like to splash around running water.

My new job isn’t any more lucrative than the old one of worrying. The newly rehabbed pond and waterfall however are much more enjoyable than the nasty the old mess of the pond and overgrown waterfall. The wildlife repopulating the yard seem to concur. My new job of simply spending time reading in the shade and listening to the waterfall is much more lucrative to my wellbeing.