I sat on the porch and watched the fish this morning. It was a goldfish orgy in my pond. I’ve never seen the likes—menage e trios, fish swapping and more as the little gold, white and black flecked bodies undulated all over each other and the algae. I’m hoping there won’t be a fish population explosion. I may be finally forced to calculate how many fish can stay healthy in my 8,000 gallon pond.

Speaking of algae, it’s out of control. I’ve five water lilies, a stand of yellow flags (water iris), miniature cattails, corkscrew reeds, variegated iris and parrot plant and thriving, but it’s not anywhere near the 70% shade level needed to control the algae. I better get some UV blocker dye right away before it gets totally out of balance in there.

I broke the last weir on the waterfall a week ago. I was balanced precariously on slippery stones reaching to pluck errant sunflowers--who thought it might be fun to grow in the stream—when the precarious side overcame the balance part and I kerplunked forward onto the granite flagstone that was cemented in place as the final cascade from waterfall to pond. And now a week later dear hubby has gone golfing twice and still not found the time to set a new stone in place. The serendipity of the whole accident? We were always disappointed that the weir stone was really too short for the opening, so we “spliced” in two smaller flagstones on either side. This time DH decided to get the right size stone. He did at least make it to the stone store (quarry, yard?) on Saturday. I do believe I will encourage him with all my might tomorrow to get it set in place.

The harder I work in my garden, the less I post…but never enough “thyme”, eh? Working full time leaves me only a half hour or so in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening if I’m up to it. I can’t even visit all my plant friends in that limited time frame—so the work is left for Saturday. For instance, last Saturday, I got into the garden at 7:00 AM and finally went in at 8:00 PM. That would be against the law for an employer to extract that sort of labor with no breaks, but in my garden I’m mesmerized, rejuvenated and relaxed, even as the sweat runs into my eyes and the twinges in my back remind me I’m "plenty-nine" years old. During the week I can spend a few Zen hours watering or plucking an errant plant here or there…those things some might call weeds. Here is what I learn when watering: it’s good to be fluid. Flow into the spaces that present themselves and refresh the life around you. Seems a good metaphor to live by. The picture is of my nieces Kaylee and Lizzie enjoying the fluid nature of the stream in my front yard.