After a week of high temps, humidity and lots of rain, it was so nice to spend the day outside yesterday. Mowing, of course, was on the agenda and I did a lot of weeding and pruning and general garden clean-up. Happily tired at the end of the day.

The first phlox blooms have appeared. The scent is heavenly.

My David phlox plants have obligingly self-seeded all over the main garden bed. Initially, the flowers were white and many of them still are; however, pink and purple blooms have made their way into the mix as well. I’m not complaining.

The hostas have begun to flower.

This was the one pot of impatiens that I overwintered. It’s doing really well!

This photo was an Instagram post last week.  This view that I get when I’m upstairs always makes me smile.

I’m in a “Seek Comfort and Nest” mode. I suspect many of us are, given the events of the last week and the last year. So much upheaval, so much sorrow, so much hate and fear. Don and I were talking about it yesterday. We don’t bury our heads in the sand – far from it – but we do take steps to remember who we are and what we believe and spread as much love and happiness as we can. I feel grounded when I work outside, when I look at our property (such a dream come true for former apartment dwellers,) when I look at all the creatures who share our plot of land, when I watch flowers open and butterflies and bees flitting among the plants in the gardens. Even when I mow our lawn.

I am brought back to my basic and fundamental belief: We are all one.

We often act as if that isn’t the case, but it is. Seek Comfort and Nest doesn’t mean that we stop fighting for what we believe in. Oh no. We fight. It simply means that we seek that which grounds us, which reminds us of our blessings. That, in turn, reminds us that we need to reach out to those who feel marginalized or are discriminated against, who are in pain or are living in fear, whose daily lives are a struggle.

Patience is not one of my virtues, though I think I’m much more patient than I used to be. But I will freely admit to an impatience with people who see something like #blacklivesmatter in a post on Facebook, for example, and automatically assume that the poster has implied that other lives don’t  matter. Surely we can handle a bit more complexity of thought than that? Some of the dialogue I have seen there has been troubling. Surely one can point out an issue that needs our attention, that urgently needs addressing, without the immediate knee-jerk assumption that the poster is inferring that the lives of policemen don’t matter? Or that policemen are bad people? Come on.

I step away from engaging with anyone who thinks in that limited manner because a response is useless in the end. You can say what you want, of course, but if you’re assuming a defensive, argumentative posture, I’m out. Online, in my daily life and on this blog.

Just as, I suspect, many of you, I have a family member who is in law enforcement. I also have friends who have been subjected to racial profiling. I am capable of addressing an issue – racial injustice -while still knowing that the vast majority of police are good, brave people.

Knee-jerk reactions help nothing. And we’re all capable of that sort of thing, of feeling we need to ‘defend,’ myself included. It’s a complex issue. Clear heads and open hearts and minds are required to move forward.

One of my dear friends, who happens to be a first-generation African American, wrote the most moving and powerful post on this subject. It was a clarion call asking all us to engage in respectful dialogue on the subject of race in America. It needs to be addressed. We will be better for it in the end.

It is the Golden Rule. That’s the only rule we can follow if we believe we are one. It’s a no-brainer.

Love cancels hate.

So, we seek comfort and nest for a time, then we re-emerge and work for change. Change for everyone.

Happy Tuesday.