Urban Garden.7

I feel the need to explain some things, again. With this post, my blog tells me I’ve now posted something new every day for the past 104 days. I’ve fallen into this, as something to anchor myself in this strange and unsettling time we find ourselves in. I never intended to become an utterly regular blogger. Yet somehow, now that my trips out the door are far less frequent than they’ve ever been before in my entire life, I find myself seeing new things, or old things in new ways. I’m also now in Bangladesh at a very different time of year than ever before — I’d been in Cox from late October to early February in 18-19, then here in Dhaka from early November…but I’d never really experienced the monsoon season, or noticed how seasonal the flowers seem to be.

At home in California, it seems there’s always something blooming. Not long after being relocated by work from NYC to southern California, my (then-new) friend Gary (another midwest-boy transplanted to the west coast) once commented than January is the season of the flowering trees in Los Angeles, when our friends “back east” are typically moaning about slush, snow, sleet, rain and cold. Late last year my friend Jean asked me when I’d start posting flower photos from Dhaka, as I did for a period (mostly via WhatsApp at the time) in Port-au-Prince. At that point I’d only seen the rare bougainvillea or garden-store flowers during my walks out and about, here.

But now the monsoon rains have arrived, the mangoes are ripening — and much is abloom. So I think I’ll keep trying to take photos, including both the interesting flowers appearing on my previously drab house plants (a few days ago) and whatever loveliness beguiles my eye on those still-rare occasions when I walk out my door and brave that covid-affected world out there. At least some of my family and friends at home seem to take slight comfort from these daily posts as an indicator that I’m still managing to get out of bed and do at least something each day :-). I do hope the photos keep bringing you back, because seeing all the views, and comments, and likes helps me stay motivated. I don’t know about you, but I myself find motivation a bit more challenging these days than often before in my life.

Peace, health, compassion.