Getting Ready

We are getting ready for a National Park trip from Chicago to San Fransisco with major stays in Glacier and Yosemite. By chance, Pop Pop recently read a fascinating book called Second Nature by Michael Pollen. He argues that the Thoreau ideal of "romantic nature" where we are but observers of beautiful vistas should be confined to spectacular spaces like Yosemite, but that our real ideal should be the garden, or a place where man is not only part of nature, but adds to its usefulness and splendor. So later blogs may just drool over spectacular vistas, but may also speculate how we should interact with nature in a balanced, responsible way. As a start, here are some pictures of our current (home) garden, a place where we have tried to interact in a way consistent, hopefully, with Pollen's principles.