15 May 1975
Every day closer to moving, to the new life. Blossoms opening, deeper fragrance. The light through the tulips on Purcell way near the college, lilacs on the table, japonical in the front yard, broom in front of Venice Bakery, hyacinths in Park and Tilford gardens, forgetmenots in Stanley park, daffodils on the farm, cherry blossoms on Nanaimo Drive, Huckleberry leaves turning from deep red to bright light green on the stump outside the door, skunk cabbage leaves in the cedar swamp, apple blossoms in bud on the Duchess. I identify with the flowers: opening, coloring blooming, smiling, singing, shooting seed and fragrance.
Planted the garden in two days last week. Five rows of corn, three rows of onions, five rows of carrots, two tripods of beans and a fenceful of beans and snowpeas and tomatoes, six hills of squash, two rows of parsnips, beets, turnips, radishes, cauliflowers, broccoli, spinach. The mulch and the ditches worked beautifully to prepare the soil. Jonah and Drumas playing with the hose. Jonah getting suntanned, golden haired and curly. The experience of the garden”digging in the good brown dirt, mixing in manure, dropping in seeds, covering them over, row after row, under the sun and blue sky. The goats, sheep, stream, children. I fear the jealousy of the gods and the envy of my neighbors. I pray in thanksgiving next to Jonah’s bed.
Recording tapes at the MPC: Bach, Mozart. Hours and hours of beauty. Even the blue truck works. Janet went to Seattle to see Jelstrup and tell him about the cured whiplash. Last weekend she and I moved heavy furniture. She’s no longer crippled.