Worth Repeating

Worth Repeating
            Edged by towering trees, blue sky and puffy white clouds, a grand lawn is dotted with people lounging as if posing for a pastoral landscape painting. Giant pink petals framed by geometrical branches blaze against a blue sky. The fuzzy bud of a magnolia blossom-to-be is backlit by the sun. A river of pink and white blossoms flows toward us from above.
            These are things I see every year at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Each year around January and February, the impressive petals of magnolia blossoms put on a grand show at scattered locations around the garden grounds.
            We don’t write it down on a calendar. Driving around town, we spot magnolia trees blooming here and there, and are reminded to make our annual magnolia visit to the Botanical Garden.
            The trees continuously grow and change. The weather and lighting is different for every visit. Some years many trees blossom all at once and others there’s a trickle of one variety blooming to the next.
            My fellow hiking/nature/disabilities blogger friend Marjorie Turner Kuhl Hollman often shares posts marked, “Worth repeating,” I make sure to stop and take a look. Sure enough, she’s found something worth appreciating, thinking about, and remembering.
            The magnolia trees are always worth making a repeat visit for, even for a quick half hour stroll. Though I like to try hiking at new places as often as I can, I also love going back to old favorites. There’s a comfort in mixing the familiar with the new.
            Enjoy opportunities to repeat things that lift your heart. Smell that favorite flower, read that favorite book, drink your favorite tea from your favorite cup! Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s HikingAutism Hike Notes from the archives is Magnolia Stroll-San Francisco Botanical Garden (reshared each year), highlighting the Botanical Garden’s collection of 200 magnolia trees representing 63 species. The magnolias are just a fraction of the wonderful plants on view at the garden, but are a special treat in the early months of the year.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 46): Magnolia Stroll-San Francisco Botanical Garden
 
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