Crispy

The heat has continued around here and its taken its toll. My fave potted lavender plant has crispy edges and toasty leaves to my dismay. Darn how I’ve tried to keep up with the watering! I tried to protect the lavender and the strawberries. Wilted. The water in the bird bath evaporates while I’m away and the poor doves and sparrows are left to wonder why. They keep hanging out though. Just like a kid staring into the fridge, waiting for something not there to appear.

Despite my best efforts to water and protect though, the greater force of nature has gained the upper hand. I remember Graham’s comment on the freeway drive from LAX. He’d just arrived here from London and made a somewhat glib remark that So Cal was really just a desert after all and if it weren’t for our irrigation systems we’d be parched. Having lived here all my life in the land of automated sprinklers I’d never thought that before. Never ever. Always green. Always flowers in winter.

So before I go out to water, just now before the sun comes up, I’ll reflect on this one thing. The important things in our lives need watering. The people we care for need our love. Not sloppy buckets-full that may drown them or wash them away . . . (pause and think about that). Its just not that hard but it does require a thoughtful, others-focused sense of care. Am I drowning them because I myself am so thirsty? Am I depriving them because I myself need so little? Look to their crispy edged leaves for the answer—not your own . . . and then water.