Synergies
For some reason, the form I had to fill out at the eye doctor’s office – where I was way overdue for my check up – asked, among other things, about “hobbies.” Maybe they needed to know if I were into coal mining, glass blowing or needlepoint. In any case, after writing ‘golf” and “reading” I hesitated and then went ahead and wrote down “gardening.” Big step. I could hear the major chord play in my head and how it probably reverberated at the same moment in my wife’s. For years my experience with gardening was defined by the hard physical work of hauling, cutting, digging, while she was the serious tender of plants, with a “Master Gardener” designation from the University of Connecticut to prove it. I liked to revert to blatant gender bifurcation when I would describe our respective roles: I destroyed things; she cultivated them With the pandemic, however, came lots of free time. And that meant more time in the yard. Having already taken down enough trees over the last 15 years to have created open space, a walking trail and yet more garden “rooms,” I was done with the heavy-handed work and now down to...Read more