A place to nap

Many people comment when they visit my garden, that I have lots of places to sit and rest.  Those of you who garden know that having a beautiful garden does not mean sitting still...and the few minutes I do, the garden calls to me and I have to leave my chair and start pulling a weed or deadheading.

However, I learned years ago that it has often been important for visitors to my home and garden to have a place to be still, rest, and reflect.  When I was first married, guests would often wander away to look at something and I would be startled to find them napping in a chair on the couch, on the porch swing, or on the chaise in the garden.

I often invite guests who are feeling stress in their lives.  To sit on the porch to have coffee and talk.  And soon they are napping.  When mentioning it to a friend, she said I made it OK.  That the house was a calm, restful place, away from the world where you could find comfort in the coffee brewing, the smell of fresh baked goods or something in the crock pot.  And the rule I have against gossip .  What is spoken in the garden stays in the garden.

A peaceful place to be still... and nap.