Marking Time’s Passage

“Director’s Notes” are excerpts from our monthly email newsletter, “Stories from the Garden.” Subscribe and see past issues here.

Dear Friends,

The first five years of our stewardship have drawn to a close, and so too has the vista across the palm garden to the Pacific Ocean. I write today after a hike with new friends up to the highest point in the garden where we always read “Rain at Night,” with its evocations of the many chapters in the ongoing story of this place, and “Anniversary on the Island,” which opens: “The long waves glide in through the afternoon/while we watch from the island.” I wrote from this very place early in the year, when only the smallest glimpse of that vast blue ocean William and Paula looked upon remained. Now, the green canopy, no longer the waves, defines the full horizon.

In a place that often feels outside of time, this horizon reminds me of time’s passage—eight years without Paula, six without William, now a full five since we began our custodianship of the garden. And yet, the essence of this place endures, even as its expression has evolved. The practice of care that renewed it now finds amplification in the gestures, words, and actions of so many who come to spend time here. In Our 2025 Story, we present a look at this past year. In it, we gather reflections from our Open Garden Days participants, who speak of transformative experiences of respite and renewal; we share portraits of the artists and writers who have joined us as residents; we offer glimpses of the volunteers who have helped us care for the house and garden; and we highlight the educators and students who inspire us as they imagine and enact new possibilities for our world. 

How grateful I feel to be among those who care for this place as a poem—a space distinct and discrete in form, inexhaustible in content. A place of agency and evolution, and of possibilities beyond its own imagining. Together and across time, we hold fast to the conviction that made this garden: acts of creativity and care can create a world of change.

Warmest wishes for the holiday season and always,

Sonnet