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Health & Fitness

No Soundtrack Here: Gardener Longs for Spring's Symphony of Sensory Pleasures

Need a break and looking forward to Spring? Try a quick little trip within... just below the surface!

When my spring assault on the garden begins, I'll be tearing up weeds and spending hours in an attempt to find rich soil at the bottom of my compost pile. I will! 

I loaded it up with the kitchen scraps from the house and leaves and all kinds of good mushy decomposing green slimy stuff that I slogged across the yard all year to put in to my pile of black gold thats been hybernating all winter.

All I need to do is just turn it over and there it will be! Glistening in the sun with the moisture accumulated within and the little multi-legged critters scurrying about as they are disturbed from their winter hiding places. I'll bring my phone with me which carries so much information and keeps me connected with the outside world and my music.

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As I think of this, my senses become instantly and completely full. I see my hands stirring through cold, crunchy vermiculate, damp moss, and earth, as I'm re-energizing my one and only raised bed, and myself.  I could hear my breathing, drowning out everything except for the cardinals arguing over turf and the squawking Blue Jay off in the distance. 

I can smell the earth and that distinct odor it carrys. Relaxing now a moment, I can also taste the ice cold Sam Adams beer I usually slogg down when I sit back to admire my accomplishemt of a clean slate to work with and sit to contemplate about where to stratigically put my new flowers.

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My attention now turns to my "frog pond"... aka the water feature my husband built. This will need to be pumped out and all the leaves pulled out that have blown in there over the past fall and winter and the dirt and dust accumulated into a light layer of mud now at the bottom. I see the work being done in my mind's eye. 

In a short time I see the pumps were running, frogs sitting on their favorite rock and the fountains bubbling away... the water clear and replenished complete with water bugs skittering over the surface. Where had they been hidden? and the frogs? Had I just missed them while cleaning? Were they hiding just below the surface?

Like my muddy pond – you couldn’t see anything in it, but you knew there was something important happening just below the surface.

And I’d have lost it all if I’d turned on the music. I prefer the quick rejuvinating trips in my own mind and my silence within. Ahhhh... they are the BEST, and they are happening within me! 

I can go anywhere I need to when I have a need for a quick rejuvenating trip of the senses.  How bout you? Give it a try!... Be Blessed.  Stephanie

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