6.30 First I noticed the smallest one, less than a centimeter long and nearly indistinguishable from bird droppings, then another similar one twice as big, and finally a beautiful striped one twice as big again and I was thrilled to greet the Anise Swallowtail caterpillars.

6.29 We got together as planned, the friends she brought together, but without her at our center we felt unfinished.

6.28 There’s a loud alarmed bird call followed by a shriek from a jay, and we turn to see a robin diving downward as it guards its fledgling from the jays.

6.27 Today at the community garden we started the slow move into next season, gathering seeds from False Goldenaster for fall planting while saying goodbye to a beloved team member.

6.26 A reader’s excitement over a shared love of author Geraldine Brooks brings three strangers together in conversation in the used book shop, each of us calling out favorites to be savored.

6.25 Such a strange feel to the air, and then I realize it’s humidity with its unique scent, and I teleport to the East Coast.

6.24 The robin is patiently sitting and waiting as her eggs incubate, and I remember my nine months of wonder as I imagined the new being that grew within.

6.23 It's been 46 years, and as we have for many previous anniversaries, we headed to the ocean, walked along the shore and listened to the story of our lives together in the ebb and flow of the waves.

6.22 One of the many joys of gardening is sharing plants, especially natives that support native habitat, and today I was able to migrate several plant gifts to a new home.

6.21 One loves jazz piano and singing while the other is contemplating whether to study writing or drawing, and I’m excited and in awe as they change from the small boys I remember into burgeoning adults ready to fly.

6.20 Two small butterflies fly from one plant to the next, never leaving each other’s side in an endearing display of partnership.

6.19 As I climbed up the hillside on a beautiful morning cool with fog, the orange monkey flowers glowed cheerfully all around me.

6.18 Sometimes when I am in the midst of triaging books for the shop, I’ll find an old favorite and it’s like greeting a long lost friend.

6.17 The last section of the garden has been weeded, pruned and generally tidied, and I can breathe a sigh of satisfaction and accomplishment.

6.16 They returned from their trip in time to celebrate, and Father’s Day was complete.

6.15 The hot afternoon sun heats my skin, then is beat back by a fresh breeze weighted with the mist of summer fog.

6.14 My friend has finished her cancer treatments and we raise a toast to a more certain future.

6.13 I was walking past a small garden, and in the quiet afternoon I heard a single cricket singing out hopefully, the first song of this season

6.12 After much persistence, with a lot of grass, some weeds plus a little lichen, the nest is finished, the robin has settled down, and she seems now to be patiently awaiting what might come next.

6.11 Leo came to me for a prolonged neck scratch, but it didn’t quite make up for how he missed his humans.

6.10 To be part of a community that makes a difference makes all the difference.

6.9 There’s a saucer filled with water and rocks meant for the bees and small birds, and this morning I found instead of bees a tiny salamander with big eyes, and I wondered where it could have come from and hoped it will find its way home.

6.8 Today I planted herbs, all the while imagining some future culinary splendor.

6.7 The wind came rushing across the lake with an eerie low hum, accompanied by whitecaps and the lapping of small waves on the dam.

6.6 I was listening to the brilliant Timothy Snyder and he stopped me with the statement that we have to remember that to believe in democracy means to understand the need to take a risk for someone else, while to be an autocrat means to only be willing to take a risk for yourself.

6.5 It’s been such a hot day, but now the cool evening breezes are that much more refreshing as I sit in the dark and watch the last moments of sunset.

6.4 Early in the morning I slowly become aware that the robins are singing awake the sun.

6.3 Across the Bay, San Francisco emerges briefly out of the fog like the mystical city of Oz.

6.2 It took three hours in the heat and bugs, but the garden mess is cleared out and now I can rest and admire my work.

6.1 I gave her two Genovese Basil seedlings, small gifts of new life and a promise of future flavor and fragrance.