If At First You Succeed ....

"Gardening is full of mistakes, almost all of them pleasant and some of them actually instructive."

Henry Mitchel, "One Man's Garden."

It's been over two weeks now and the only success I've had with my tiny table garden have been a very few tiny shoots of the chamomile seeds that I sowed ... and my carrot top which is sending out lovely little fern-like foliage. Everything else is a non-starter, including the avocado pit (I suspect they make them like that on purpose but I'm not assigning blame here). So this weekend I loosened the soil, condensed my little pots, and tried again. This time I covered them with see through plastic coverings to create a mini hothouse effect that, hopefully, will help the seeds to germinate better. Before this last week it's been so cold and windy outside that even with heat on and the grow light going, my apartment felt more like February than May - we even had snow for Mother's Day! It's been much warmer this past week so I hope that the better weather, and my few adjustments, will make a difference. If not, Memorial Day Weekend will find me at a nursery picking out already started herb plants. While I am ok with the concept of "try, try again," I'm not a gardening masochist - if seeds don't work, try plants!

It seems that this lesson was something I really needed to download this week. Another example was brought to me by a very tenacious male bird from next door. There is a flock of grackles that have taken up residence in the former home of my sweet little squirrels who were terrorized and driven off by this bunch of angry birds. Nest building has been going on rabidly at various locations under the roof line next door as if they were contestants for The Big Race. The reality is that mating season is in full bloom over there and nests will be needed post haste! One young male bird is probably the most dedicated example of "try, try again" that I have ever seen. Every morning he is out there on his favorite perch on the side arch of the building, waving his wings, shaking his tail, and singing his heart out. Occasionally a young lady will sit down next to him and, throwing introductions to the wind, he takes care of business in a matter of seconds, flying off and leaving the stunned young lady wondering if it was something she said? In minutes, our Romeo is back and singing his heart out again. Some ladies catch on to his lack of education in the ways of women and take off as soon as he makes a move, but that does not deter our guy. I have seen him sit out there all day, morning to night, rain or sunshine, singing and waving. What he lacks in technique he more than makes up in staying power. You have to admire him for that.

Try, try again. Nature gives us all kinds of examples, doesn't She? A tulip that dies back when Spring is over and Summer moves in comes back next Spring to delight us again. Autumn may take the leaves off the trees but come Spring the green is back. We suffer a loss but somehow, in the midst of it, we wake up one day and find a new reason to smile. Try, try again. Keep trying, folks. It will all make sense in the end.

And so it is.