Add a tablecloth and a candle, and the scene changes to very-romantic. The kids are at the grandparents, and my wife got a box of chocolates shipped
http://www.hedonistchocolates.com/. I will never get tired of the patio and it's many forms.
My best evenings are spent with Cami in the Garden. It usually consists of homemade chai together, and talking about parenting on the back terrace of our Upper Harbor home. We overlook a small creek filled with Pussy Willows and birds. Our little fluffy white dog sniffs around the fence-line, getting the best scent of a recent raccoon visit. The kids hit each other with sticks gleaned from the big Modesto Ash lurking over our house.
To me there is nothing more romantic than seeing our lives blessed in these moments. It adds more to life to be in the context of a garden than any other place at that moment; especially our own garden. Experiencing our home, our children, and our lives together could not happen in Monaco, or Paris, or Yosemite. This is our little place.
The best thing I did, besides marry Cami, is to always have a garden for my family. Besides all the pleasure it gives us, it helps to give me a professional perspective. It helps me to understand my clients needs, and to be excited for them in their garden place building journey. Not without it's hard work, the garden also gives me a chance to put sweat into something that pays direct benefits. Cultivating has immense metaphors for life. I empathize with the amount of work that goes into an oasis, but Ive found my place to be the coveted low-maintenance landscape. Because of the hard work and planning, it now becomes simply a matter of keeping it swept and pinching back flowers. I have to hold back on fussing over it too much, or over accessorizing it's clean beauty.
Now Spring always comes early, when you anticipate the flower's arrival. Seeing the first green shoots appear, makes the expectation as good as the results.
