In April

In AprilMy late wife Judy and I made this garden thirty years ago. Since then, we watched our children grow into adults and saw our sunny garden become part sunny because of the shade trees we planted.Since we planted our first live oak tree, there have been five United States presidents but only one family of bats, who returned recently for their twenty-fifth year to swoop down upon our pool at night.I rake the garden’s paths as a sort of meditation. Back when Judy was sick, the paths were immaculate. Now that there’s a pandemic, they’re pristine again.I’m sharing the garden this year with a family of robins who are nesting in the south fence. We’re all sheltering in place.Nature gives us many pleasures: fresh air, sunlight, and small furry things that fly in the night. But sometimes its greatest gift is consolation.Emily Dickinson thought that to comprehend a nectar required sorest need.She also kept a garden.