View of Pewaukee Lake
from friend’s house

When we were in Mexico City on a Gate, trip the leader of the trip gave us some real Mexican vanilla to give to a friend in the Milwaukee area. Back home I emailed the friend asking her where I could deliver the vanilla. She invited me to come to the 11th annual Global Partners Running Waters picnic. The mission of this organization is to provide financial resources for rural communities in Latin America to meet basic needs, like clean water, and to offer opportunities to people in North America to experience a reality other than their own. The picnic was at another friend’s house overlooking Pewaukee Lake. One of the motivations for going was that my friend on the lake had built a new garden that we wanted to see.

The garden was beautiful and peaceful. The garden, full of flowers, vegetables and herbs was in full bloom. I did not have a camera to capture the beauty but in mind and heart I was present to the wonders of the garden. As I was quietly sitting in the garden my friend who created the garden came out. She explained some of the design and plants included a ‘smoke’ shrub named ‘grace’ she had planted in memory of my son Peter, the artist.

At the picnic in and out of her house we discovered many people we knew from other experiences that were part of the Global Partners community. It was good to visit with them. An excellent Mexican cook we knew had provided some main dishes and everyone brought a dish to share. The sunny day and the food made good companions with the many good people that were present.

From delivering vanilla from Mexico to this wonderful garden was a good trip. The garden was truly inspirational and made me determined to restore the beauty of my small backyard garden. Good friends, good food, sunny day on the lake, picnic for a good cause and a beautiful garden: it does not get much better than this.

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