As we hide away from all the noise and work, I am taking it easy today and just resting with spa music and reading decor books and magazines.

Wouldn’t it be grand, I was thinking, to have a zen like garden. A contemplation “jar din” with restful, seated and gravelly, walking areas? Sounds just about right. Maybe a round, wooden bench, circling our big California Pepper, maybe a bridge over a smooth, grey-blue stoned pond or a covered deck under the eucalyptus trees.

This vision immediately lowers your blood pressure, breathes you slower, deeper and longer. A garden sanctuary is a place to unwind, slow down the pace. It makes you want to sit and pause and think and watch natural life around you.

With our butterfly bush, fruit trees, sunken kitchen garden, compost area, aloes and grass, there are a lot of flying, crawling, colorful wonders.

It was good today to just sit in the warm yet tolerable sunshine, lounging by the pool, imagining myself and others, meditating, pouring tea and languishing amongst arched structures, stone angels and swirling pathways edged by lavenders and grasses.

The patina we acquire as we age is in direct proportion to our most hidden, secret gardens in our souls.

Never lose your appreciation for the simplicity in beauty and you will always be in awe of the complexity in life.

Namaste