In the Gardens

I have been busy making a flower garden out in front of my house which I bought less than a year ago. People pass by in their cars or walking and remark on my garden and tell me about their gardens.

This morning I heard a knock on my door. A lady named Celia brought me fresh bing cherries she had just picked. She placed them on a chair on my porch. She said that every time she passed she saw me working in the garden and wanted to share her garden with me. I told her to wait, and in exchange I gave her a large packet of vintage garden flower seeds. She was very happy.

I had so many cherries that I left some on my neighbor's porch; this neighbor has been giving me stuff since I moved here -- the latest being 2 dozen eggs and a couple bags of potatoes from her church give-away, some of which I'd dropped off on another friend's porch on the way to the post office.

When I wind up with too many easily-eatables, I drop off a bag in an area where a homeless person is sleeping in hopes that when he or she wakes up, it will be a small blessing.

I want to give thanks for the kindness of friends, and also of strangers who are no longer strange. The more people who are kind, the more people who are kind. And so it goes...

-Phoebe Martone