Name change

I made the choice to change the name of my blog because it now serves a different function.

Now this serves as more of a "verbal sketch book" -- most of the thoughts here are fragments or threads that join with others in teaching classes, essays and speeches.

I selected the name "Temenos" because it is the Greek name for a sacred enclosure. This name typifies how I feel when I create in my garden which inevitably leads to some seed of thought that ends up here.

There are many reasons for this change some of which I will try to express in upcoming blogs.

It's raining rain

I surrendered completely to the garden this weekend. After weeks of near-drought conditions we finally got a good soaking rain that deeply nourished the garden. I took this opportunity to really weed, clean up and till.

There generally are two kinds of outdoor work in a garden -- gardening and yard work. Mention things such as weeding and tilling to most gardening enthusiasts and they begin to look nervous and itchy. The mere thought of this kind of work makes a lot of people really uncomfortable.

And for good reason. It certainly is more fun to drive to a local gardening store, throw down a mastercard and fill one's trunk with color. And at the gardeing store, I often see people doing just that -- as if gardening is just one more obsessive stop on the long lists of to dos. Just one more way to overachieve and spend, spend, spend.

I am learning that the simple tasks of weeding can be as spiritual exercise as any. In fact, I will admit to more than my fair share of praying while in the hunched over position. There's something earthy and real about being up to one's elbows in mud, on the knees that gets one real close to that sense of surrender that I think most of us talk about when we talk about the Divine. Though I'm not Jewish, I have learned from orthodox Jewish friends that one's posture during praying is as much a part of bending one's mind and heart as it is anything. So perhaps gardening is a kinesthetic way for me to connect to that spirit that forces my heart open and allows me to weep along with the sky.

After several hours, I stepped back to observe my progress which reminds me that I still veer off into those paths of competition. I looked at my crooked little garden path that was filled with weeds and seeding perennials just a few hours before and notice that I can now see the small stones again. The line from the pond to the pergola is now open again and I breathe a little easier. Maybe it's the work that's done -- or maybe the prayers -- or maybe both.

In the front yard a whole new idea came to me as I reviewed it. Without realizing it, I observed that I had planted a lot of white and yellow in the front. Upon this notice, I realized that some of the plants that had been placed in the center of the border were out of sync with the overall design. I decided, with the ground soft from rain, this was a good time to remove the crowded and weedy liriope that has been in the garden from the previous owners.

This was a messy job with a ton of debris that came from the garden. I was grateful to find, though, that down about three inches in the muck, there were some wonderful earthworms that have been taking good care of the soil. Less work for me!

Now I have a gaping hole in what was once a weedy, awkward space. Sometimes its OK to just let things sit for a bit until an idea emerges on how to fill it. I may not plant much until fall, anyway, until I'm sure there is more rain coming. No sense in planting pretty young things and watching them roast all summer.

And this week, I'll continue working around the new ponds and hopefully finish the bridge next weekend, when the sun is out a bit more.

I'm rereading "The Sanctuary Garden" by the creators of the Cortesia Sanctuary Garden in Oregon and it's a great way to round out the weekend of work.