Success! At least partial. Oaks from acorns, planted last fall. Far left, white oak from an acorn found near here. Middle red oak, from an acorn found near here. Right, four swamp white oaks (one of my favorites) from acorns collected in Whitewater.… — Success! At least partial. Oaks from acorns, planted last fall. Far left, white oak from an acorn found near here. Middle red oak, from an acorn found near here. Right, four swamp white oaks (one of my favorites) from acorns collected in Whitewater. Swamp white oaks like the same conditions as ash trees.

...............,

And then I decide to sit in the Zen spot for a few minutes before lunch, hoping to cool off a bit. I sit in the shade of the overhanging cedars, but I have to squint in order to look out on the bay. Squinting makes me sleepy. Occasionally a hint of a cool breeze lifts up from the water, but it is warm.

A large number of small bees, and fewer, but still numerous, small black wasps are working the flower heads of the ninebark bushes—a busy but slumberous humming. A column of ants marches around a rock. Dragonflies come in to recuperate from their shoreline predations, their approach a series of steps down to a final restful perch.

All is quiet and still. A monarch butterfly flits around a milkweed.

Then there is another. Then monarchs everywhere—and then I can hear the cells dividing in the giant mullein to the left of my foot and can see it growing in front of my eyes.

And then my head tilts forward and, with a start, feeling cooler and a bit rested, I realize it’s past time for lunch.