Transcendence , Knowledge and Wisdom

 Another Father's Day is history and summer is arriving. My daughter Emily, from Oakland, CA sent me this stunning flower arrangement. I love the abundance of different flowers and the atypical design. Thank you, dear daughter.

I keep Emily's handwritten page-long note from  Father's Day 1995 framed and on my bookshelf. After praising me, she writes "You play with me. No matter what we do we always have a good time."  Ten year old Emily then gives two examples, involving reading two of her favorite books, "The Napping House" and "Stars and Planets."  So many precious moments since that first 1985 Father Day when she was seven months old. We now talk every Sunday night which never makes up for missing seeing her in person.

Reflecting on several days of tending Prospect Gardens and life in general led me to consider transcendence, knowledge and wisdom. Our church, First Unitarian Society of Madison, has monthly themes and "transcendence" is June's theme.  In the June newsletter, Community Life Minister Kelly Crocker says that transcendence ".... speaks to us as moving beyond the common place or getting a sense of something larger than our existence." The newsletter offered Julie Cadwallader Staub's  poem for our reflections.  Staub's poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac and published in several  journals. She lives near  Burlington, VT.

Longing 

Consider the blackpoll warbler.

She tips the scales

at one ounce

before she migrates, taking off

from the seacoast to our east

flying higher and higher 

ascending two or three miles

during her eighty hours of flight

until she lands, in Tobago,

north of Venezuela

three days older,

and weighing half as much.

She flies over open ocean almost the whole way.

She is not so different from us.

The arc of our lives is a mystery too.

We do not understand,

we cannot see

what guides us on our way:

that longing that pulls us toward light.

Not knowing, we fly onward

hearing the dull roar of the waves below.

The arc of my life is indeed a mystery. The far end of the arc is anchored in rural Northeastern Wisconsin near Pulaski and on a small family farm, in a large family of 14, and grounded in a Polish and Catholic culture. The arc now is situated in retirement, aging, a loving extended family with grand nieces and grand nephews, a loving wife and life partner, and a comfortable apartment in one of Madison's upscale and popular neighborhoods. Understanding how this all happened inevitably leads to acknowledging and appreciating the mystery of my life.  

Tending Prospect Gardens also underscores how gardening, as well as life, is a mystery. After ten years of tending Prospect Gardens it's still a mystery to me as to what perishes and survives as the years slip by. Why did  the strawberry patch disappear and the Blue Indigo survive, although we could spin out several plausible explanations? Is understanding life and gardening that important?   

Don't get me wrong, understanding is sometimes important. Yet understanding and knowledge are often overrated in terms of what motivates us to "fly onward", i.e. continue despite our own and the world's sufferings. As I experience aging, I'm more aware that acceptance, letting go, self-compassion and trusting in life itself are equally important.  Perhaps I am gaining wisdom. This is how Thich Nhat Hahn, a world renowned Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, distinguishes knowledge from wisdom:

  "Knowledge is conceptual, it is information, opinions and views read from books or spoken by others, whereas wisdom is the truth within the experience. Experience can not be conceptualized, for example....try to explain what water is, then go drink some water or stand in the rain, the conceptualization and the experience are completely different, this is the difference between knowledge and wisdom!!"

So I continue tending Prospect Gardens, flying onward and hopefully gaining wisdom about life itself. Happily and fortunate for me, as the following ten pictures show, others continue to lend a helping hand with Prospect Gardens. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.  Thank you all.

On a sunny June 5th afternoon, Ryan, the conservation crew supervisor for Operation Fresh Start (OFS), and five of his crew tended the Gardens. Ryan, the guy with the sun glasses, is now working for the Vilas Zoo. I will miss his enthusiasm and knowledge of plants. Ryan raises hybrid day lilies as a hobby.

Percy, a master gardener and regular volunteer, substituted for me since I could not stay for the entire work session. Thank you Percy, Ryan and the young men from OFS.

OFS according to its mission statement provides "disconnected youth, 16-24, a path to self- sufficiency through education, mentoring, and employment training." Through a contract with the City Engineering, OFS conservation crews, assist in maintaining green spaces as part of their employment training. Maddie, the Department's Greenway Vegetation Coordinator, provided the crew as part of the Department's support for prairie gardens along the Southwest Path.  Thank you, Maddie.

The OFS crew worked hard and hopefully they benefited from their Prospect Garden experiences. Here's Ryan and two crew members pulling out aggressive Rudbeckia (Black Eye Susan) from an upper section of the Gardens and on the Regent side.

Black Eye Susans are lovely to behold and yet very aggressive. They were overtaking the tall Michigan Daisies lining the weathered picket fence. More need to be removed.

These two crew members, along with Percy, tackled the equally aggressive Bishops Weed on the opposite of the Gardens. It forms a dense mat that prohibits other plants from establishing. Another great year for this nemesis to many gardeners. How it gained a foothold in the Gardens continues to be mystery. A few years ago there was none.

Another area that Percy and this OFS crew member tackled was the ditch in front of the storm water drain and the home of jumping worms. I am starting to learn about this latest invasive species and their potential ill affects.

Jumping worms grow more rapidly, reproduce more quickly and consume more nutrients than typical earthworms.They quickly transform soil into ground resembling discarded coffee grounds. Ornamental, garden plants, and many native plants do not thrive in the changed soil. For now, I am following Percy's advice to wait and watch for effects. There is some uncertainty about how best to treat an infestation.  Cleaning out plant debris like Percy and OFS crew members did is recommended.

 On June 15th this crew arrived. Starting on the left, first row, is Emma, Mary, Ann and Laima. In the back row starting on the left is Laura, with the yellow visor, then Janet and Reis. Removing Bishop's Weed consumed most of the three hour session.

Here's Reis digging out Carney Reed Grass, a noxious plant that can grow up to six feet tall and with very deep roots. Like Bishops' Weed it forms a dense mat that prevents other plants from existing.

I enjoyed Reis' enthusiastic and adventurous spirit. He really got into digging after exclaiming "I always wanted a shovel in my hands."  Reis is University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student who now has two summer jobs.

Another enthusiastic and adventitious spirit is Emma. Reis and Emma are friends who learned of Prospect Gardens through the Dane County United Way volunteer website. I posted the work session on this web site.  Emma also has a summer job and last year attended UW Madison.

I enjoyed Emma's sense of humor. After I mentioned that she didn't have any gloves she laughed and said, "I plan on getting really dirty."

I'm hoping that Emma and Reis return so I can get to know them better. Plus they are such great workers.

Here are two regulars, Laima and Laura. Both are neighbors who live near the Prospect Gardens. Laura who has consistently volunteered now for many years, helped me trim back the ten year old Forsythia. Janet also provided advice and encouragement as we reduced the overgrown shrub by at least half. Nick arrived to help finish the job as well as helped me trim another overgrown Forsythia. Both shrubs were damaged during the unusual cold spring or as Janet said, "the polar vortex."

Here's Mary taking a brief break from weeding a shady corner of the Gardens. Now the Astilbes are visible. Mary is from the Regent Neighborhood and her home is an easy walk from the Gardens. She has a great, welcoming smile.

Mary may become a regular since this is the second time she volunteered.  You will always be welcomed and your hard work appreciated.

Janet, here behind the still to bloom Queen of the Prairie, is a first time volunteer. She arrived on her electric assisted bike from her home in nearby Villas neighborhood. She knows a thing or two about gardening and plants. You too will be welcomed back any time.

For some unknown reason, I didn't take a picture of Ann working diligently in an area to the right of Janet. Your  thorough weeding is greatly appreciated. Come back again anytime. You will be welcomed.

These old fashioned roses are once again blooming. I suspect that they have been along the Path for years. They were uncovered several years ago as we cleared out the area and expanded the Gardens.

They are one of the surviving old timers. Against formidable odds they persist, returning every year to beautify a small corner of the Gardens that can be easily missed. Passersby, like me who look up and notice this corner of  beauty, may experience a sense of transcending our ordinary and yet mysterious lives.

May you continue to fly onward like the blackpoll warbler in Staub's poem unimpeded with concerns about the distance and the "dull roar of the waves below."

May and Time

Another Memorial Day is history. It was a rainy day that most likely caused picnickers to seek shelter. Summer has officially begun. Kayaks and canoes have returned to the Lake Wingra boat house across the street, along with heavy carpeted logs for the log roller enthusiasts.

Ann and I headed to Klein's on East Washington and bought annuals for the six pots on our deck. A short intense shower pounded the greenhouse roof as we shopped and it stopped before we checked out. Beauty and color will once again enhance a space where I often do my morning Tai Chi.

The peaceful Buddha sits in front of the pink blooming geranium. The rock to his left is lava from Garter Lake, Oregon. Two friends, ignoring signs warning against removing lava, showed up with two lava rocks in the late 1970s when I lived in Portland, Oregon. They did not know of the Buddha's five precepts with one encouraging us to refrain from taking anything that is not freely given; i.e, no stealing.

These rocks now mark the passage of time.We packed them when we left Oregon in 1980 for Bloomington, Indiana and packed them again in 1983 for the move to Andover, Massachusetts after completing a Ph.D. at Indiana University. They were among the boxes in 1986 upon our return to  Madison, Wisconsin. Home at last. Yes indeed, if these rocks could talk they would tell you many stories about my life as it arced from coast to coast and back to the Midwest.

Tirupathi Chandrupatla, a professor of mechanical engineering at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, says this about time in his poem "Time Knows Time."

Time flows

Like the perennial river

Time rides the crest

Of a wave in the sea

Time's space

Its fourth dimension

Time's elastic

Keeps on bouncing

Time's a sponge

Absorbs all spills

Time sleeps

Time wakes up

Time walks

Time runs 
Time races

Time stands still

Time flies fast

Time has past

Time has future

Time never stays in the present

Time creeps

Time ticks

Time tricks

Sometimes good
Sometimes bad

Time's night

Time's day

Time's dark

Time's bright

Time's heavy

Time's light

Time's easy

Time's hard

Time blinks like eye

Time beats like heart

Time makes

Yoktosecond * large 

Time turns

Exasecond ** too small

Time lets one fall

Time makes one rise

Time's magic

Time brings one to life

From nowhere

Time makes one vanish

In an instant

Time's all

That we know

Time's everything else

That we don't.

Time Knows Time

* a septillion of a second

** A unit of time equal to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 second

Time raced through May; flowing through Ann's birthday, our 40th wedding anniversary, watching the migration of spring warblers, meetings with my First Unitarian Chalice group and another Buddhist inspired "Going Forth" small group, a long walk and lunch with my friend Dave, medical appointments and several days of tending Prospect Gardens. May's river of time also included work on a survey for our church and the haunting sound of an owl just before falling asleep next to Ann.

 Time with neighbors at Prospect Gardens was "bright", "light", "easy" and at the same time vanishing "in an instant."  In my attempt to capture time and chronicle Prospect Gardens events here are nine pictures, along with commentary. 

On May 15th we cleared a section full of weeds.  Here's Amy, a nearby Dungeon Monroe neighbor and Jessica, a recent UW graduate. Jessica is waiting to hear if she has been accepted to the Peace Core.  Thank you Amy and Jessica for your  good company, hard work and for sharing the passage of time on a warm and beautiful spring day, with fluffy clouds, blue sky and temperatures nearing 80 degrees.  Life is good.

The crew taking a break. Joining Jessica was her friend, another UW student, Lasea. Thank you Lasea and come join us again.

We achieved my unstated objective of clearing the problematic section. Two yards of mulch was also delivered in anticipation of covering the area after planting. I returned and replanted with plants purchased from a private party who advertised on Facebook.

The twenty-five minute trip to fetch the healthy plants ended at a 1960's ranch home on the far west side of Middleton and close to Verona. Never been to that part of the county before. Traveling west on Airport Road, I noticed how the rolling landscape, once filled with farms, was now dotted with small clusters of homes and some businesses. Urban sprawl with the boundaries of Madison, Middleton and Verona overlapping. Dane County is the fastest growing county in Wisconsin and it's noticeable.

The May 18th work session was rained out. A week later, May 25th, this crew tended the gardens. Thank you for being such a diligent and joyful crew.

In the front row starting from the left is me, Tom and Joyce. In back of me is Hanns, and to his left are Niha and Penelope. Niha and Penelope are high school students. Penelope was doing community service as part of the nearby West High School's English class. She will be writing about her experience as a class assignment.

Behind Penelope is Will, another high school student from nearby Fitchburg. Next to Will are Anne and David, Penelope's parents. Anne is a UW Botany professor, specializing in fungi.  Laura is to David's right(behind Hanns).

Eli, a middle school student, came later and after the picture was taken. Since his family is moving to Middleton this was probably Eli's last time tending the Gardens. Thanks Eli.  Come visit when your back in the neighborhood.

Here's Nick enjoying one of Ann's lemon bars. Ann, my wife, always bakes for the Saturday crews.  Lemon bars are a favorite and these were some of her best.

 Afterwards, Nick joined Tom who was busy mulching. The pile of two yards of mulch quickly vanished. About a wheelbarrow's worth now remains.

Thanks Nick for lending a helping hand. Please come join as again.  I like your cowboy hat which I once wore when living in Central Oregon, along with cowboy boots. When the heels needed to be replaced,  the cobbler looked at me and asked: "Do you ride a horse?"  After answering "no", the wise man said stop wearing the boots and explained why. And I did.


Tom returning from dumping a wheelbarrow of mulch in the section that Amy, Jessica, Lasea, Ann and I cleaned out on May 15th. Tom is an avid gardener and prairie enthusiast from the Brittingham neighborhood, west of Prospect Gardens and near the east end of the Southwest Path. He is the crew chief of the Brittingham Community gardens which I must visit.

Tom credits his father for his love of the outdoors, gardening and prairies.  Tom's father was once a game warden.

Will, Niha and Penelope in action.  They cleared the Gardens and adjoining areas of garlic mustard, as well as tackled areas covered with Bishop's weed. Their youthful joy and enthusiasm added so much to the day while reminding me that time has both a past and a future.

Gardens have always been integral parts of a community. Tending Prospect Gardens includes time to chat, as this picture of Laura and Joyce shows. One of the benefits of tending Prospect Gardens are opportunities for these friendly exchanges when we stop and strengthen our human connections.

One outcome of the two May work days is this  mulched and replanted section. The small green plants are the recently purchased purple cone flowers, spider warts and a blackeye susan. I will be watching them with some anxiety since this area has resisted past efforts at being transformed. Weeds and quake grass flourished and hopefully they are under control.  Yet gardens and weeds have their own life cycles.

The joys of tending Prospect Gardens in May also included finding, refurbishing and placing this birdhouse.  I found it on a trash pile in front of a nearby vacant home before it was sold. I reattached the roof, cleaned the dust off and applied a few coats of varnish. Let's see if nuthatches or perhaps wrens like this house as much as I do.

An older women who was cleaning out her home moved into a assisted living community. The birdhouse didn't sell at her garage sale, but the house sold, and now another younger couple joins the neighborhood. 

I end these reflections about May, Prospect Gardens and time with this observation about gardeners. 

"Aren't gardening people the happiest, friendliest, a
and most generous people you know? Why do you suppose gardening is the #1 hobby in America?  Gardening touches everyone in some way, be it beauty, color, solitude, food, memories, therapy, land value, exercise (some of the best), to attract wildlife or just the thrill of making something grow. It’s a great way to have quality time with your family and friends."

- The Gardener's Touch Sonya Robinson 

Saturday, June 15th , 9 to noon,will be another opportunity to feel the benefits of tending Prospect Gardens while experiencing some of Tirupathi Chandrupatla's insights about time: 

"Time flows

Like the perennial river

Time rides the crest

Of a wave in the sea"

Friendship and Busy April

It's a quiet Sunday the 28th of April and spring has returned after Saturday's wintry mix.  April has been a busy and fulling month. In early April, I reconnected with long time friends from Indiana University (IU) graduate school days. We spent several days together in beautiful and historic Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe is the oldest city in the United States, starting as a small settlement in 1607.

Here's Julius, Diane, Edie and me just before dinner at a wonderful Japanese restaurant . Julius lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Diane hails from Eastsound, an island off of Seattle, Washington, and Edie from Waterbury, Vermont. Linda, from Chicago and Lynn, from Oriental, North Carolina, two other graduate school friends, were unable to be with us. Through the magic of video teleconferencing we spend a hour and half with them.

We enjoyed beautiful and historic Santa Fe. We reminisced about the IU days and talked about how that period shaped our lives. Edie, Diane, Linda and Lynn and I were completing doctorate degrees in education while working on a national federally funded special education grant. Julius was a key support staff. We also talked about our lives since Indiana and our current passions and activities.

Our time together confirmed the value of friendship better expressed than I can in this Max Coots' poem.

A Harvest of People

"Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:

For generous friends, with smiles as bright as their blossoms.
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us that we’ve had them.

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn; and the others as plain as potatoes and as good for you.
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter.
For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time.
For young friends, who wind around like tendrils and hold us.

We give thanks for friends now gone, like gardens past that have been harvested, but who fed us in their times that we might live."

Shortly after returning from Santa Fe, my attention turned to Prospect Gardens. We are now starting the tenth year and over the years a "bounty of people" have volunteered. Those who have regularly showed up over the years are truly "generous friends, with smiles as bright as their blossoms."

April's events at Prospect Gardens began with Ann B. and I taking down the protective orange snow fences. Late last fall, someone tagged this section of the mural with graffiti. Dorrie, a neighbor, created the mural during April and May 2011.

Seven years without being tagged. Not bad of a run, given how often two nearby bridges are tagged. I repainted the area attempting to create clouds. I'm looking for a few bird stencils to enhance the effect of a bike in the sky.

Hopefully, the taggers will stay away. If not, this slab and perhaps the other sections of the mural along the sides of the ramps will need to be redone or redesigned.

The abstract bike really "pops" out. It will do for now. Somebody might come forward with ideas for a redesign and energy to install a new mural. Maybe they will be new "young friends who wind around like tendrils and hold us?"


Another task involved repairing terraces built to stabilize the slopes and prevent erosion. We all know impermanence is the reality of life. Ann B. weeded and swept the ramps while I tackled the terraces.

I added the two top rows to this one and rebuilt a second one in a different section. Eleanor, a nearby neighbor, gladly offered the heavy slabs for the taking. They are from an old fire pit she  removed to make way for  a new anticipated fence and a new dog. Moving the slabs in a wheel barrel meant plenty of exercise while ticking off steps on my Fitbit.

On Friday afternoon, April 26th, 13 volunteers joined Ann B. and I, to officially kicked off the 2019 gardening season. We welcomed three new faces, Elijah, Amy, and Mary. Mulch King Bob returned as well as Percy, Eli and Ann N.

John Imes, Executive Director of  the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative (WEI), also returned along with Justine, a WEI staff member, and this year's four University of Wisconsin Badger Volunteers, Morgan, Taylor, Ellie and Yeline. The Badger Volunteers, UW students, have been with WEI and John for the academic year and this was their last day.

John has his crew work at the Prospect Gardens one day month during the season except May.  May is a transition month plus graduation, and of course, finals.  A new crew of Badgers, along with Justine and John, will return on June 21st, July 12th and August 2 or 9th. Thank you John and all for your generosity and hard work.

This is the second year UW Badger Volunteers have helped tend the Gardens. Here's the crew pausing from their labors after I asked them to pose. They worked hard weeding and pulling garlic mustard. Not a slouch among them. John also pruned the shrubs bordering the ramp's wall.

I look forward to working again with Justine, John and a new Badger crew. Badger Volunteers is one of Morgridge Center for Public Service's programs. It's a semester-long program that places teams of students with schools, nonprofits, and municipalities. Volunteers work 1-4 hours each week at the same organization.

As a UW graduate and an elder, I receive much joy from working with these four young Badgers.  May our paths cross again.

The following six pictures provide ample evidence that the other volunteers worked with gusto. Sorry to say, I missed snapping a picture of Mary while she weeded and pulled garlic mustard. Also missing is a picture of the all volunteers during break time enjoying Ann B's homemade treat.  This time it was Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars.

Here's Amy, Elijah and Ann N. weeding the raspberry patch and getting it ready for mulching.

Here's Bob and Amy in action. Bob continues as our "mulch king" because he's good at and he so likes mulching.

The day before Ann B. and I purchased and delivered to the site ten bags of mulch from Home Depot. The trunk of  our 2012 Honda Civic was packed and two bags were on the folded back seat. What a load! I wondered about the weight limit for a Civic as we slowly made our way back to Prospect Gardens. 

 Here's Elijah, a junior at West High School. What a great worker! At the end of the work session he offered to help clean up and put away the tools. Hopefully, he will become one of those "young friends, who wind around like tendrils and hold us" mentioned in Max Coot's poem.  

Here's me towards the end of the work session standing besides the now mulched raspberry patch. That's Elijah behind the electric pole still working away.

This young man is Eli. This is Eli's second year volunteering and most likely this was his last time. He and his family live about a half block from the Gardens. Unfortunately for us but not the family, they will be moving to Middleton and into a home with an acre and half lot that includes a prairie. Ann B. and I wish the family the best and hope our paths too will cross again.

Here's Percy surveying a second cherry tree off to the left of the picture before pruning it. She just completed pruning the other cherry tree. I'm grateful to this Master Gardner for her pruning expertise and for being a regular volunteer.

I end with returning to Max Coots' poem and its message about being grateful for friends and all their uniqueness. The same applies to all volunteers who over the years tended Prospect Gardens. I feel especially blessed that 13 showed up on a bright sunny 2019 spring day to take us into the 10th year and perhaps beyond.  

Saturday, May 18th, 9 am to noon, is the next work session. If you are in the Madison area, please join us. Our need for volunteers is constant since many come for one session, which is okay.

Thank you.  

Anticipating Spring

Once again, early in the morning of April Fools Day, Ann tricked me. I got up a few hours after her. After we greeted, she said "Guess what?  On the news this morning they said that the Monroe Street sewers need to be redone."  Sewers were included in the renovation of Monroe Street lasting from March to Thanksgiving, 2018.  We live on Monroe. I groaned: "Oh no!"  She triumphantly proclaimed "April Fools." We laughed.  A good way to start a day.

During that day's afternoon walk I meandered east from our apartment on the Southwest Path. A daily walk is part of my regular routine. Occasionally the sun poked through the thin clouded overcast sky. The following poem Michael b. darby captures my mood as I approached Prospect Gardens and began scanning the Gardens for signs of spring.

Anticipation of Spring

"As winter slowly wanes, its cold breath slowly turning to the warm
Breath of spring, renewing and accepting the Wonderment that spring
Shall bring forth nature's power of renewal. Oh how awesome it makes us feel
As we await the beauty and the anticipation of spring we shall accept.

Watch the daffodil slowing begin to bloom as it pushes its way up from earth
And ground. Watch the buds on the Bradford pears burst open and the yellow
Grass as it begins its journey to green, and the firament and all it contains show
Its force that Mother Nature shall bring and anoint us all with its renewal of life.

Watch the farmer as he busts open the soil and turns over the ground and tills the dirt
To a fine sift, awaiting the planting of seed that will bring forth a great abundance
Of Food to renew life's bread for us all; and to exclaim, spring is finely here!"

It's been a long winter as this patch of remaining snow streaked with dirt testifies.  Loudly announcing "spring is finally here!" seemed premature. Yet a hint of spring was in the air.

The only signs of spring I found were pale green Day Lilies, no more that three inches above the ground. I'm reading Jerry Apps' "A History: Old Farm." I gained from Apps a new respect for what many, including me, call "ditch lilies."

The tawny orange blooming annuals are native to China, Japan, Korea and eastern Siberia and were cultivated long before the birth of Christ. Apps sites Chinese records saying that Day Lilies relieve physical and mental pain. Juice from the roots benefit the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and stomach while strengthening willpower, reducing worry and brightening the eyes. Wow, I didn't know all this.

Day Lilies were popular throughout Europe by the 1500s and they most likely crossed the Atlantic with the Pilgrims, at least that's what Apps says.  In the light of what I learned about Day Lilies, I may reconsider intentions to remove more Daily Lilies from the Gardens. Much of the southwest section of the Gardens was covered with Day Lilies when we began developing the Gardens in 2010 and many return each year. Perhaps it's best to leave them given their history, as well as a reminder that they witnessed steam powered trains rumbling down the corridor.

What follows are more Garden scenes all testifying to this season of transition and my anticipation of spring. They also show the Gardens' geographical features: hilly slopes with some covered with rip-rock. Both features add an extra challenge to gardening.  Sometimes I refer to our efforts as "extreme gardening."

This picture shows the southeast section of the Gardens and is in the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood. Underneath the trees is a shade garden of Hostas, Jack-in-the Pulpit and Jacob's Ladder. In front of the newly replaced board fence is a Red Bud, that will soon bloom. Several Red Buds are in the nearby UW Arboretum. With anticipation I await their blooming and another sign that "spring is finally here!"   

 This picture shows the northwest section of the Garden and is in the Regent Neighborhood. Note the rip-rock. The Day Lilies make up the pale green areas. They anchor the slope preventing erosion, another reason against removal. The triangular shrub is Japanese Sumac, with golden yellow foliage in the Fall. It is now just a skeleton of itself.

The old picket fence has been there for many years. It was there when we first moved into the neighborhood in 1986, as was the railroad tracks. Occasionally an engine and one flat car of lumber slowly traveled west with a load for Brunsell's Lumber yard, which is still in business near the Beltline.

Emily, our daughter, has fond memories of the train tracks. As an older child, Emily would sit along the tracks enjoying some peace and solitude. Now West High School students visit, sit along on the ramps and eat their lunch.     

This picture is looking east and is on the north side of the Gardens and in the Regent Neighborhood.The Forsythia, in the right hand lower corner planted by Steve, a fellow gardener, is one of the first bloomers. It's bright yellow flowers will proclaim that spring is finally here. Meanwhile, I wait with anticipation.

 This picture shows the Dudgeon Monroe side of the Gardens and looking west up into the shade garden. A layer of leaves covers the ground. The small spindly tree (middle of picture) is a species of Dogwood. This one is slow growing. I purchased two several years ago when both were about a foot tall.  Last year both bloomed for the first time. I wait in anticipation for the pearl white flowers to burst forth.

Today, election day, Ann and I intended to remove the orange snow fences. Removal has become a spring ritual. Light rain changed our minds. Sun broke through about 3 PM, just in time for my daily stroll.

In a few months the Gardens will be transformed as native grasses, prairie plants and perennials return. Meanwhile I will wait with anticipation for spring as I did as a young farm boy growing up on a farm with a pond near the farm house.

 I cherish the story of those spring days told by my oldest sister, Jenny, when Ann and I interviewed her for a family project. Jenny died in early spring of 2017, April 6th to be exact. She took me back to when the pond and the creek that cut across the farm overflowed with water from the melting snow. Jenny described the soothing sound of the rushing water, the pleasing songs of croaking frogs and the sweet melodies of robins. For a few minutes we sat silently each enjoying the memories of childhood springs.     

Our first community work session is scheduled for April 20th from 9 to noon. If you are in the Madison area please join us. We will finish cutting back plants and maybe remove more rocks while creating new beds for plants that are on order. On April 26th from 1 to 4 pm University of Wisconsin Badger Volunteers. Another opportunity to tend the gardens while enjoying the unfolding spring.

May spring continue to unfold and may we all be healthy, strong and happy.

















 

Hope, Snow, Memories and Mindfulness

I sit here in front of my computer screen with this amaryllis to my right and a cup of English Breakfast tea on my left. My second cup as I take in the weak sun, attempting to break through the low hanging gray clouds and as the light streams through the window.

This one is a 2017 Holiday a gift from a friend and volunteer  at Prospect Gardens. I am proud  that it survived, including a few months of rest in a dark closet. A second  amaryllis from last season and another gift, is still not sending up a green spike. I'm optimistic that it will come forth.

A third amaryllis, in a blood read metal container, has a two inch green shoot. Another gift from Ann's friend, received this last holiday season.

According to Wikipedia, "Amaryllis "is Greek meaning "to sparkle" and also refers to the bitterness of the bulb. To me, the plant signifies renewal and hope.  Spring indeed will once again arrive. The first day of spring is on March 20, less than two months away.

Meanwhile, it's now 8 degrees below zero and with more sub zero temperatures for the next week.The snow that fell last Wednesday, the 23rd, still lies heaped on our deck. The Buddha statute is covered. If you look closely into the corner, the little knob is his head.

These cold days remind me of life on the family farm, which we sold in 1962 when I was a senior in high school. Temperature would hit minus 30 degrees and last for several days. A snow storm could dump up to four feet of snow, leaving us stranded for days at the end of our nearly two mile long dead-ended driveway.

During a particular bad year, snow often started in late November and would continue into early April. I recall my classmates and me feeling particularly bad as a result of a late April Easter storm that closed our one room school. The day before the storm hit our teacher made small paper Easter baskets filled with jelly beans and chocolates, one basket for each student. Candy was a rare treat for my family and for other classmates. The teacher put the baskets away in a small closet. On the morning school reopened, I listened in shock as the teacher announced that mice feasted on the much anticipated goodies while the school was closed.

Like all kids, we took time to enjoy the snow. We especially enjoyed sledding down a hill next to the barn, using a large wooden bobsled that was impossible to steer. It held two or three of us. Somebody gave the sled a shove and who knew where we were headed towards.

However, on extreme cold days extra efforts were required to feed, care for and protect the cows and other animals. In many respects survival of us and animals was at stake.The barn became a refuge warmed by animal body heat and with the inside of windows covered with a layer of icy frost so thick that you could scrap it off. The frost on the windows created beautiful swirling patterns that I can still see in my mind's eye.

Cows and pigs received extra straw bedding and feed. In the morning, any frozen water pipes were carefully thawed out. Chickens were kept all day in the coop along with the geese. Extra care was taken to brace the doors of the barn and the coop so they did not become ajar during the freezing weather. The John Deere tractor and manure spreader were backed into the barn through a large opening with a sliding door.  Another large storm door was lowered from the ceiling, adding additional protection against the penetrating cold. Sometimes hay bails were placed at the bottom edge of the lowered door, adding more protection.

Extra vigilance was required during those freezing days. Somebody (often it was my Mother), would get up in the middle of the night to check that all animals were safe and that no water pipes had frozen and split open. My Mother also tended the fires in the two house's wood and coal stoves during the cold days. At night she heaped the red embers into a pile forming a base for the morning fire. Very early each morning my Mother got up and added wood or coal to the smoldering embers and in little while the stoves were red hot. Accidentally touching a stove risked a severe burn.

We slept under "piezynas", goose down comforters, which were at least eight inches thick. We wasted no time getting into bed and I slept in my long underwear. My Mother's bedroom was on the first floor, which was once my Grandmother's and Grandfather's bedroom. I shared one of the four second story bedrooms with my brother Louie and sister Barbara. Louie and I shared a double bed in one corner and Barbara's bed was in another corner.  Her bed was once my Grandmother's. Older brothers when they were single slept in two beds in a third bedroom, and the coldest one in the house.

Before they married and when I was a young boy, two sisters shared a double bed in a fourth bedroom. This one had an open floor register allowing heat to rise up from the wood stove located in the living room below. On bone chilly mornings, Louie and I ran to the register and quickly dressed in the rising heat before heading to the warm kitchen on the first floor.

Boys always did the barn chores. After Tom, my older brother, returned to the UW Madison in the fall of 1960, Louie and Ernie, two younger brothers and me did them. On those freezing days we got into our thick winter coats, slipped into our heavy boots and headed out into the frigid cold. We hurried across the frozen yard when it was still dark  and the yard light cast our shadows across the snow.  In the warm barn the cows waited to be milked and fed along with the rest of the animals. A warm breakfast, often scrambled eggs and bacon or oatmeal along with a lot of homemade bread, followed.  We headed to school after getting washed up and changing into our school clothes.

Besides recalling these memories, the recent snowfall and my walk through the neighborhood and Prospect Gardens reminded me of Mary Oliver's poem, "First Snow Fall."  The poem to me encourages us to suspend the search for answers to questions that are continually on our mind. In other words, to be mindful, present and fully experience what is arising in the moment.

First Snow

The snow

began here

this morning and all day

continued, its white

rhetoric everywhere

calling us hack to why, holy;

whence such beauty and what

the meaning; such

an oracular fever! flowing

past windows, an energy it seemed

would never ebb, never settle

less than lovely! and only now,

deep into night,

it has finally ended.

The silence

is immense,

and the heavens still hold

a million candles; nowhere

the familiar things:

stars, the moon,

the darkness we expect

and nightly turn from. Trees

glitter like castles

of ribbons, the broad fields

smolder with light, a passing

creekbed lies

heaped with shining hills;

and though the questions

assailed us all day

remain---not a single

answer has been found----

walking out now

into the silence and the light

under the trees,

and through the fields,

feels like one.

Oliver, Mary (1992). New and Selected Poems. Beacon Press: Boston, MA. pp 150-51. 

While walking in the aftermath of Wednesday's seven inch
snowfall, here are some winter scenes. I suspended the search for answers while being mindful of what was arising.

This is from the seating area where Monroe Street intersects with Regent Street and part of the new plaza across the street from Mickey's Dairy Bar.  Mickey's has been part of the neighborhood for years. It's especially popular with UW students, and with their parents when they are visiting.  A must experience for any Madisonian as well as those of you who visit our fair city.

What caught my attention was the marshmallow like snow caps and how some hung in mid air.  A few of these marshmallows collapsed while the sun heated up the surface. This one remained steady while waiting to slip off its pedestal.

Here's another great neighborhood hangout, Michael's Frozen Custard, closed for the season.  The sign in its window says "Opening in March", another anticipated sign of spring.  The word "frozen" caught my attention as did the snow covered umbrellas, tables and benches.

Michael's is just across the street from our apartment. Our neighborhood's Fourth of July parade assembles in Michael's parking lot.  Kids of various ages on their decorated bikes, along with their parents, make the short trip to Wingra Park.

Ann and I often have lunch at Michael's after working in Prospect Gardens. I highly recommend the California Veggie burger and sweet potato fries followed by, of course, a dish of custard or a sundae.


The beauty of snow and calming silence also descended on Prospect Gardens. All is resting under a thick white blanket.  Here's a view towards the west and on the north side of the Gardens with the bike path newly cleared.

Another west view and on the south side of the path. The bird house, topped with fluffy snow, awaits spring and in anticipation of new renters.

Another bird house with it's fluffy snow cap. The bright colors stood out against the snow and brown fence. The shadows are evidence of the sunny, blue sky and temperatures in the low 20s. My... balmy!!!!

I'm feeling grateful for the protective cover of snow blanketing the Gardens.  May this cover be replenished and remain until the warming days of spring gently reveal what lies beneath and ahead.











I end these musings with a snow scene of Holy Wisdom Monastery, near Middleton and the location of last weekend's meditation retreat. The retreat started on Friday at 10 a.m. and ended on Sunday at 3 p.m. You can see the Retreat Center and Guest House in the background.

The fresh new snow of Friday that I walked through during a lunch break meant I experienced the message of Mary Oliver's: "First Snow" poem.  The snow continued to quiet the mind, keeping the incessant chatter and questions within the mind at bay. The answer was the quiet and peacefulness of the snow itself.  May all of you experience the quiet and peacefulness of fresh snow as this winter season unfolds.

Possibility

This month's theme at our Unitarian Church is "possibility."  On the cover of the January newsletter, introducing the theme, is a quotation from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist, and pioneering aviator.

"Behind all seen things lies something vaster; 

everything is but a path, a portal, or a window 

opening onto something other than itself." 

This quotation is especially suitable for this new year, another life cycle full of unknown possibilities that will reveal themselves as 2019 unfolds. The snow that turned Madison into a winter wonderland on New Year's eve is fast disappearing. Since Ann and I were in California from December 20th through January 3rd, we vicariously enjoyed the beauty of Madison's first significant snowfall through Facebook postings. 

We were in the Bay area visiting our daughter Emily for a week and then on to Ojai, in Southern California, for another week. Emily moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Oakland in April, 2017. We so enjoyed time with her before flying to Los Angeles and eventually traveling to Ojai, about 70 miles northwest of LA. We stayed at Darrel's and Beth's home. We enjoyed and renewed our long term friendships. So easy and comfortable.  Darrel and Beth picked us up at LAX and Darrell, who loves driving, took us back on January 3rd.  Someone once said you know you have true friends when they pick you up at airports.  Given the immensity of LAX and the traffic, Darrel's actions testifies to our strong and lasting friendship with him and Beth.

Darrel and Beth witnessed our May 25, 1979 civil wedding in the Portland, Oregon courthouse.  Looking back, it was a clear, warm and sunny Oregon day full of possibilities. Many possibilities have become realities including Emily, now a woman on her own path of possibilities while she enjoys the Bay area, her circle of friends, her art work and satisfying work at Ancestry.com as a Data Quality and Governance Analyst. Ancestry's office is in San Francisco, a 45 minute commute by BART.

Emily, like her mother and father, went West in the search of new possibilities. I left Wisconsin for Oregon in 1974 and Ann moved to Portland during the summer of 1976, about six months after we met. I came home for a visit during the 1975 holidays, where we met on a blind date, and the rest is history.

"Possibility" also fits the status of Prospect Gardens on this unseasonably warm and sunny Saturday, January 5th. The gardens are in a restful state. The following pictures are openings onto something else that will surely emerge as winter turns into spring.

 I am wishing for more snow so the Gardens have a protective cover.  These 40 plus degree days are comfortable and pleasant, yet the thawing and freezing cycle can damage roots. Plus I want to enjoy cross country skiing and I would like to try snowshoes this winter. For now both are just possibilities.

 This old picket fence, bordering the northwest section of the Gardens, has witnessed many events, including the transformation of the railway into the bike path. The plant remnants will be removed during the first spring work party.

 A view of the Gardens and the bike path through the bare cherry tree branches. If you look closely near the center of the picture you will notice a walker enjoying the warm day, as I did.

This cherry tree and another need to be pruned and branches turned downward to fully achieve the possibility of a more abundant crop of cherries. I learned from Percy, a Master Gardener and Prospect Garden volunteer, that the bottom branches must be weighted down to achieve a rounded shape. Another task for early spring.

This forsythia, waiting for spring, will be transformed into a golden yellow bush. It will be the first to bloom.

I just googled forsythia. I learned that its fruits are widely used in Chinese traditional medicine as an anti-inflammatory and in the treatment of bacterial infections, and upper respiratory ailments. I didn't know that!

 Another "window" showing a walker on the path and a shrub (bordering the wall), the North American Elderberry.  A Midwest Elderberry Cooperative brochure that I pick up this summer at one of our farmers' markets lists elderberry's health benefits. The fruit is high in antioxidants, vitamins and other nutrients and is a natural anti-inflammatory and an anti-viral support. The berries, according to traditional cultural practices, help against colds, flu, sore throat, coughs and bacterial and viral infections.

The brochure ends with this gentle warning: "We encourage every consumer and producer to do their own research. Each body presents its unique challenges and responds differently to various foods."

Janice, a neighbor, and her husband pick the ripe fruit. They make juice and pies. Janice shared a small bottle of the juice, which was quite tart. Janice's husband is from Germany and according to Janice, Elderberries are very plentiful near her husband's birthplace.

The remains of seedpods from a once blooming Bee Balm.  The stencil figure is part of the mural at Prospect Gardens. After nine years, the mural is starting to show its age.  Another section of the mural was recently tagged with graffiti. Perhaps a sign to freshen up or redesign the entire mural. The future design possibilities are endless.

 I am unsure about the plant featured in this picture. Whatever, it will come back to life during spring or summer.  The stencils represent the different ways the path is used.

Another "window" to the path and the wonders of the Gardens.  The blue orb reminds me of plant earth. It's actually a bowling ball.

2019 has many possibilities for the Gardens as well as for our lives. May many of those possibilities be pleasant and bring joy while staying open to what is now unseen and part of the vastness of the universe.

I end with these words from our Unitarian Sunday service:

"Say these words when you lie down and when you rise up...

In times of mourning and in times of joy...

Another world is possible."

Aurora Levins Moreales