San Francisco, California
April 28, 2020, Time Goes By
Day Nine’s volunteer foxglove on the stump is doing well and showing signs of flowering. As is the one pictured here, which sprang up by the fence. It’s a wonder how much these plants have changed in a little over a month. I wasn’t sure they’d make it.
And me? Back on Day 9 this all seemed like a very doable exercise of short duration, a challenge, a minor inconvenience, almost an adventure. The garden was peaceful and idyllic, a lovely place to hide. Now there is a woman making guttural moans from an open window in the apartment building that looms behind the shed. It sounds more like frustration than it sounds like fear or pain, but still, I hope that she’s alright.
Now everything feels less an adventure, more a slog. Yesterday, the Bay Area declared another month of shutdown, and I’m grateful that they did. The alternative, as I’ve said before, seems all too threatening, and for us, at least, the sacrifice is small. Still, the days move on at a dreamy pace, the garden grows, and we retreat each day a little further from the world we had before this started.
Oh, how I love the gravity-defying foxgloves, digging in wherever they may land! I can’t wait for them to open up and show us all their colors (I think I’m going to make it, too).