Having new eyes

Yesterday was a rainy day.  We had (ok, I had) a long list of projects we wanted to get to, but most of them were outside.  So instead we went to IFA to show the kiddo the baby chicks and ducks (he ended up being more interested in the kid size gardening tools...suprise, surprise!) and then stopped at the nursery just a few blocks from our house.  That proximity has been bad for our budget.

We walked around a bit - mostly I followed my child pushing one of the carts around - until I came to this lovely shrub.  It's called spirea magic carpet. 

I fell in love.  A bit later, we walked out with this plant, along with a few others.  As soon as we got home, we walked around our yard, rain falling in our faces, looking for the perfect spot.  

I had to laugh because when we bought our place almost 5 years ago, I remember my husband making plans for the yard, saying stuff like, "We'll need more height here...I wish we had more plants with interesting foliage...we'll have to get some more..."  and I was like "blah, blah, blah...flowers are flowers...whatever.  Let's just focus on getting grass down so there isn't so much dirt tracked in our house!"

Oh how times have changed!  His love of gardening has rubbed off on me big time.  I was reminded of something I read recently in The God Who Weeps (one of the best books I have EVER read).  The authors quote the philosopher Bertrand Russell:

"The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible."  The authors then paraphrase, "The more things a man is interested in, the more opportunities of happiness he has."

My husband is one of the happiest and most content people I have ever met.  And he is interested in EVERYTHING.  Well, most everything.  He is fascinated by the workings of everything around him.  And it is rubbing off on me.  Now I'm the one walking around the yard thinking of what I can look for next time we go to the nursery.  Our neighbors think we're crazy spending so much time in our yard, weeding, mowing, sitting on the porch and talking while the sun goes down.  I used to think it was crazy too, but the simplicity of gardening has brought me happiness I didn't notice before.  I think it's lovely :)

"The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new vistas but in having new eyes."  -Rachel Remen