The Walkabout Diaries: The Life of the Party

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The Life of the Party!

Have you ever been called the “Life of the Party”? Have you wanted to be the “Life of the Party”?

When you read the expression, “Life of the Party,” who or what do you think of? Who is the “life of the party” when it comes to our Garden?

Is it the brightly colored hooded oriole who flitted about just outside my office window during hours of ZOOM calls?

Or, was it his more drably colored mate?

Both are needed for the species to survive.

You might tend to think of flowers as the “Life of the Party” and it’s true that our Garden has many colorful flowers!

A few of the many colors of the “Jacob’s Coat” rose in our Garden.

And even the not-so colorful flowers can be infused with light. Are they then, the life of the party?

In addition to flowers, the garden has more active members such as bees, lizards, and rabbits. I often see coyote scat, though I’ve never seen a coyote in the garden.

We may think of flowers as being the life of the party, but without leaves, flowers and fruits would not grow because they wouldn’t have a source of energy. Leaves also can exhibit many beautiful patterns and colors.

There are a few human figures in the Garden — statues engaged in two of my favorite activities: dancing and reading.

Are they the life of the party?

The crows are certainly among the most vocal of the participants in the party. Does that make them the life of the party?

And, what about me? I help show the beauty of the Garden far beyond its physical boundaries. Of course, that happens anyway! The bunny eats fruit in the Garden and poops somewhere else to fertilize the soil and perhaps spread seeds, sometimes taking them far beyond the range of the wind. All the green leaf plants in the Garden take CO2 out of the air and return O2, each molecule of which diffuses far and wide, eventually across the planet. The bees cross-pollenate across Gardens.

So, who, exactly is the life of the Garden? I think the only accurate answer is that everything alive is the “Life of the Garden.” Not just everything within the “boundaries” of our Garden but on the entire planet. Every molecule that is here, will eventually be somewhere else. Every molecule that will be here in a few million years is now far away.

We are all of us, “The Life of the Garden.”