Green Tribe of Belonging

 After a couple days of being under the weather, I decided to catch up on what is going on in the world. Now that I was feeling better, it was time to engage more broadly than the surroundings of my own cozy little home. But oh my, it was such a downer! The world news flattened my spirit. Then I got a call from my daughter April. She and her family survived the terrible devastation of Asheville recently. She called from an emergency shelter where she and her son Gus were volunteering to distribute food and water and other necessities to the surrounding population there. And she told me how the wonderful FEMA volunteers helping out after that severe crisis were getting attacked by right wing fanatics, forcing them to leave the area. There were hateful, ugly, scurrilous things being said about people just trying to do the best thing they knew.  And listening to the wider news, I was yet again saddened and angered by the lies, lack of morality, the heedless disregard for one's fellow

 Green Homecoming I’m sitting in the warm companionship of my newly migrated houseplants, just moved in from the front porch,  out of danger of cold and frost, into the protection of my home, For the first time in five months, I feel softly surrounded by intimate friends  as I watch baseball reruns on my TV,  leafy living green on either side of me. After spending the day heaving and lifting, trimming and watering, moving furniture here and there, finally a place was found for all these members of my family. Maybe I don’t need a kitty after all. Most of these plants have been with me for years, and yet again I realize they are like my beloved pets. I wonder if they can feel that love. Whether in my imagination or not, I sense a gratitude on both sides.