The real point of gardening

世界轉得再快，也寧願慢慢用心細活。幾年下來，接近修行的耕莘，如水細淌的日子，旁人看似無所作為，卻暗暗地成就著自己。

有些事情，必須以時間作明證，與其說是選擇，也許是逃避不過的託付。總算沒有辜負内心的聲音，往後的日子，也一直這樣走下去吧。

翻看多年前的閱讀筆記，再對照當下的改變，一切再真實不過。

以這樣的提醒展開新的一年，共勉！

"The real point of gardening is to increase the value of our lives. It gives us the best chance we have of fitting ourselves back into a world that cities make us forget. A garden locks you into the slow inevitable rolling out of the seasons, cycles of growth and decay, the lengthening of days and shortenings of shadows.

A garden gives you pleasure, instils calm, grafts patience into your soul. Gardening slows you down, masks worries, puts them in proportion. A garden teaches you to be observant and how to look at things. You become less inclined to leap to quick conclusions or jump on the latest bandwagon. A garden hones your senses. You can hear the sound of dampness creaking through the soil and smell it hovering in different guises over the compost heap. In a garden, you never feel lonely.

Nor can you ever feel bored. Though constant in the sense that it is rooted in one particular place (and roots you with it - that is an important part of its power), it is deliciously inconstant in its particulars. The light falls on it and reflects from it in a different way every day. Breezes move through it from different directions. Trees provide different silouettes at different times of the year. And from now on, the arrival and disappearance of seasonal plants happen almost faster than you can keep up with. And this is all FREE. You don't need wads of money to garden."

(photo taken at Monet Garden@Giverny/France)