Planting Pansies

To plant a tree is to express hope in the future, and is a gift to the world, or so it is said. I'm all for planting trees, though frankly here we just don't have the space, and generations to come would not be impressed to have our tiny front garden entirely occupied by an oak! But even to plant a few tubs of winter pansies, as I've been doing this afternoon, is some kind of expression of hope - having had so little to hope for for so long.

And it's certainly an expression of a more settled feeling; a sense of feeling at peace with the world and at ease with myself. Are my pansies a gift to the world? Not much of one, but perhaps a bright front garden as winter arrives will be a small but welcome gift to those who pass by this bit of the world!