Paradise Garden

In the most auspicious of circumstances, we have found ourselves living in a paradise garden for the last five weeks. “Gardens of Paradise take their name from the old Persian pairi dez , meaning “surrounded by a wall”. Transliterated into the Greek as paradeisos and henceforth known to us as Gardens of Paradise , they are in essence self-contained refuges for flora and fauna, with humans as their keepers and end users” (AKDN). Walled in by bamboo we are indeed separated from the bustling complexity of this Los Angeles world yet are connected to earth, water, fire and air in this sacred place, filled with morning light, afternoon sunshine, and a whole changing sky above. Here, in this garden, one finds paradise.

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Flowers of Santa Monica

Sending love to all my Vermont friends who are restoring home and hearth after the flood, with the belief that united you are the strongest community I know. xxoo 

From backyards to front gardens, park landscapes and sky scapes, all over Santa Monica one can find an array of beautiful blooms. For me, and perhaps you, summer is synonymous with flowers. What a treat to see everything blooming, from drought resistant cactus to delicate lilies, brightening up one’s view in every direction.

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garden tour

There are plenty of reasons to be angry these days, as the inane Jim Crow voting restrictions are in play once again, along with equally archaic restrictions on a woman’s right to choose. Of course there is the Big Lie still being shouted by the last President to throngs of frighteningly delusional crowds, while the Senators in his pocket want us to ignore the largest attack on our Capital in history as they are culpable in its making. There are the heat waves rippling across our continent, most notably this summer in our Northwest, that overwhelming affects our brown and black neighborhoods far more than the suburbs of white Americans (listen to The Daily to hear about these measured temperature ratings). This cruel aspect of climate change is here to stay, ahead of even more destruction to our planet. The list of inequities is too long for me to even cover a fraction while the bridge between truth and untruth seemingly unbuildable now, as so many Americans aren’t willing to see the clear horizon ahead.

In my home, we are, with the deliberate intention of finding some joy, absorbing the tranquility of our backyard gardens. Blooms everywhere are making that decision an easy delight. Normally my blog is filled with 9 cents worth of advice, neatly placed between photos, but mid-July, I’ll allow you to saunter through the post, take in the lush abundance of color and shape, let the crazy world roll away and consider this day’s good flower news.

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