A backyard can be sublime. I confess to having no background in landscape design.  Anyone potentially may pay attention, admire the form and colors of a well cared for lawn, accent shrubs, etc.. 

The preponderance of the work is what I call “hand-work” -weeding, pruning with a hand cutter, picking up debris, arranging fallen stems to use a support wire, or placing a wire mesh to defend against the always hungry rabbits.

A delight of doing the “up close and personal” hand-work is the proximity to the plants, the

blossoms, the bees, even to dragon-fly like species which are smaller than a bee. Blooms attract a variety of insect life. An unexpected thrill happens while searching the canopy of leaves, vines, and blossoms for cucumbers ready to be picked, – to encounter a bee passing an inch from one’s nose.  The bee is in pursuit of nectar and pollen from 

the many dime-sized yellow blossoms.  In flight it shows no alarm, without interest in me whatsoever.

We find comfort in Nature because it is disinterested, soliciting nothing, needing nothing at all from us…

Five photos captured recently around the backyard.