Somehow
I didn’t think I’d be that person showing images of the family dog to the nice staff person at the garden center. But here I am! I think that I’m one of those folks who can bring back every phrase in a conversation to our sweet, furry girl. All roads lead back to her.
This time, we were talking about the merits of various fruit trees to decide which ones would join our gardens. Having had success with numerous berries in the Black Garden, I was now exploring more exotic fruits I’d never grown. My one condition: did they have any plants that might produce enough for us to share with our pup?! We had long given up on keeping her at bay. The staff and I giggled and giggled. I left the nursery with delights for the whole family.
Our girl, after all, shares so much with me. When we walk around our neighborhood, she sets the pace, encouraging me to stop here and there to to see the tulips, lilacs, blossoming trees, and of course the great stick ready to come home with us.
I suspect that she’s drawn to these plants like she is to certain humans. They welcome her, they smell nice, and they are beautiful.
As she roots under clover, pressing her paws in a dew-covered field, or pokes her long snout everywhere, she reminds me to stay curious and seek beauty, too.
“Trees and plants always look like the people they live with, somehow.” — Zora Neale Hurston
