“Ode to my crew. What a remarkable serendipity, when people decide to work together, by choice. The things we share could fill books, much of it, indecipherable. It’s been a hot slog, much of this month, but also a diary of stolen moments, when all of what we do seems to float up out of sweat, and dirt, like a dream, sweet and right. After a week of it, my mud-caked jeans lie crumpled on the floor, along with a couple pocket knives, and a pile of crumpled receipts. I put the ice packs from my cooler, back in the freezer. There’re a couple empties scattered about in the truck, some used coffee cups, and as many pairs of wet gloves, next to a spiral pad where I scrawl notes about gardens, and where they’re going. A bucket full of lily-of-the-valley sits under the outdoor faucet, next to a pile of yellow dock root, and a tub of ginger. Leaning back into a lawn chair on the porch, watching the day go thin, feeling the cool of the night grass off, I see a bear lumber into the woods by the apple tree. My heart takes a rest, too. Too much time trying to control things, trying to lean our luck this way, or that. I can’t wait any longer. This is the higher plan. I recall the day, & our new client saying: “I can’t do anything with bees right now”. Her words, puzzled at first. We’d just told her about a nest of wasps under her stone steps, hoping she wouldn’t go for poison. Then, suddenly, I got it. Something even better. Could we? Observe, honor, & just leave the bees alone? The essence of good partnerships is timing entrances, to dance well with exits. From the house, we could hear a tele-class being taught, & Ella Fitzgerald singing, a few windows further. One of our gals. slipped into the kitchen, to fill water bottles, while the other thrust a shovel deep into rich soil to pry up a rock so I could roll it. Further into the weeds, we found the shards of an old bell. a railroad tie, and suncatcher. The thick air wafted lazy between the Chinese meadow rue, and asters. It was a goldenrod kind of day, and we were certainly up to our eyeballs, in it. Love my crew.”
