i don't have a garden. i wish i did. what i do have is some potted plants out on my balcony.

this summer has been pretty awful for those plants so far. the trees out back of my apartment building are encroaching ever closer so the squirrels can jump onto the balcony above. the bugs jump onto my plants and eat the leaves. it rains. then it's hot.

but tonight, i went out there and noticed some new buds. some new flowers trying to open, and some new growth.

i like that. my little plants reminding me to keep at it, to keep trying, not to give up.

my mother always had flowers out front and stalks of corn by the side of the house, and tomatoes out back. i can remember house plants and lots of flowers. she always had hope things would grow. bear fruit. wonder if she saw the symbolism. she had 3 children and then died at 33. i like to think now she sees that her having us was her hope for the future. her putting forth buds not knowing if and/or when they would bloom.