Garden ladies

The Botanical Garden ladies from my propagation section are coming to lunch this coming Thursday.  I invited them months ago to come see my garden and to give me advice.  Now I am feeling mildly panicked at the prospect of these experts seeing what is here.  My eyes see all the weeds I missed pulling, all the gopher mounds and excavated tunnels laying the ground barren, basically all that I think is wrong.  I hope they see with different eyes, eyes that can imagine possibilities where I've become discouraged.  I do practice seeing what is beautiful in the garden each morning and find great pleasure in this.   The summer garden has treats of its own.  The boysenberries are big and luscious.  I see Bob grazing on them when he walks by going to his shop.  The plums are just about ripe even if the tree is half shaded by the overgrown butterfly bush.  The garden is a metaphor for life, it takes tending to keep it up.  There is great restorative power in my garden and healing comes from paying attention and tending it.  Each season has its rewards and its challenges, just like my life.