Can Gardening be Theraputic?

Normally I would laugh at such a question...I mean, really...gardening....HA! But on Haida Gwaii, it IS! Seriously! Now, before you laugh so hard that your beverage (hopefully not a warm one) comes out your nose, let me explain how I came to such an outrageous conclusion:

Wednesday morning (well...technically almost lunchtime): I walk to Nuni Pat's house, which is attached to Dave's In The Village (resturant), to work on a surprise while she's away in Vancouver. I was going to take all of the weeds, and whatever else I found that didn't belong, out of her garden! The previous day we had been in Charlotte and she mentioned, upon seeing a nice shrub covering the concrete wall by the Post Office, that hers might look like that if it was maintained properly. Now, Nuni Pat isn't a homebody, and she definitely doesn't lack any energy, but maybe gardening isn't her thing. Hell, most people I know don't include gardening on their "favourite things to do" list, no matter how old they are. So...lightbulb moment...I'm young..I CAN garden even though I prefer not to (kinda like, I CAN do math but would rather not)...I could do her garden for her as a surprise while she's away! DONE! I let Carla, Willie's sister, in on the surprise and she said she'd come help...good thing, too, because she had all the tools!

So, she beat me to it and had most of the tall, dead grass ripped out when I got there. I planted myself in one corner and started chipping away rather slowly at the moss, grass, dandelions, etc that covered the soil. It was taking a while, but no biggie because I had company...

Carla announces that she has to leave to help out someone else (damn her busy schedule) but she'll leave the tools and come back to check on me in a bit...she also said if I just cleaned up the dead grass behind the fencing, it'd look a hundred times better (just in case I got tired). CRAP! Now how will I garden....no entertainment...I started contemplating the easy route...I mean, really, will Nuni Pat even notice? It's the thought that counts, right?

Ugh....stupid conscience...I had committed to this project and I have to see it through...like Mike Holmes says, Make It Right (I'm pretty sure he copyrighted that statement...oh well)..so, I'll do the damn garden the right way. *grumble grumble*

Well, with Carla gone, I slowly started to garden again. A few minutes passed and I had fallen into a silent, steady pace..almost trance-like, but with elbow grease and a few beads of sweat...then I noticed something...the sound of seagulls...the waves lapping against the shore...the muted crash of the water hitting the rocks...I relaxed a bit.

I started to hum to myself and steadied my pace with that of the water. I looked up periodically to take in the beautiful view of the little island that lies about a mile out in the water, the seagulls stalking the herring who have gathered in the shallows, the lone Eagle that's singing in the cedars behind the resturant...suddenly, gardening didn't seem so bad.

-----------------------------------------

Nuni Pat got home today (Thursday) but I haven't finished the garden yet. It rained today and will keep raining for the next week according to the Weather Network...so, I may have to suck it up this weekend and get soggy! Let's hope she likes the results!