Part of what texture 216 is about is seeing things through “new eyes.” So it made sense to imagine how a three-year-old sees things, as if for the first time (that she remembers). Explaining to her why some plants (and other things) live and some don’t. Why it’s ok to pick a clover or dandelion flower, but not to pick the flowers on the blossoming tomato plant or ornamental plants in others’ yards. Why a pepper plant that was healthy and blossoming was the next day just a few short stumps stripped bare (thanks a lot, deer!).

All there is to see in a garden, in a yard, in a flower pot, on a sidewalk. A smooth rock could be just as interesting as the scent of a peony, moss worth squatting down to touch, an ant hill worth studying. A good reminder to me, feeling hectic and busy, to slow down and notice the details. To appreciate the plants that will provide us with food or a lovely fragrance or the balm of a large swath of green. Just green. She takes it all in; and she takes part with chores, her own little watering can, taking breaks to blow bubbles or draw with chalk or go down the sliding board. Ahh, a first garden. So much to see and learn and do!