Our garden is clearly content this morning, basking in the early morning sun before the day heats in intensity, with a light breeze drying the excess of last night's rainfall. What more could a well-mannered garden hunger for? And what more could possibly render unto us a sense of serenity and calm as we wander through it slowly, taking note of new eruptions and emerging details.

Needless to say it's the macro-perspective that catches the eye, that overwhelms one with the beauty of the garden when viewed from afar; say from inside the house, looking down at the front from one of the library windows. The stillness of the scene, and its quiet beauty imparts a feeling of visual satiety reminiscent of a Dutch still-life.

But it's when we wander about together after breakfast pointing out to one another areas of mutual interest and details of individual plant appearance that calm descends and we are compelled to slowly wind our way along garden beds and borders.

This morning ritual is one that our two little poodles hugely appreciate. They're happy to be outside as long as we're there, too, not so given to roaming about on their own, while we're indoors and they're not. Even though Jillie has learned to slide open the screen portion of the patio doors so they can enter when they wish to, they'd still rather we be out with them.

And when we are, the opportunity for them to rush about after one another, snarling and growling in mock fighting-mode as they grapple and feint and dash about represents yet another opportunity to appreciate the things in our lives that make it comforting and pleasant, enabling us to rise above the events that we have no control over but which diminish the quality of life.