Dear Friends,

I hope the enormous leak from the underwater BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has been sealed by the time you read this. It breaks my heart to think of the damage the spill has done to human, bird, sea and plant life! I wish that all I needed to worry about this summer is whether my insect repellent works, I get to the Dairy Queen a couple of times and am able to walk in the upland prairie Garden amid the wild monarda, bluestem and various sunflowers.

Is it wrong to focus on these pleasures when such tragic events occur? Or to think about familiar domains and smaller problems close to home? In early June I ferried two road-crossing turtles across Glenwood Avenue to the safety of the wetland, and Membership Chair Emily Anderson took an injured one to the wildlife rescue service at the Humane Society. We both felt good about this. The invasive plant problems in Wirth Park near the Garden challenge us a great deal, but at least we have some impact, some ability to reduce the severity of the situation.

But what about that horrendous oil spill or the frightening statistics on habitat loss for waterfowl and songbirds throughout North America? Rescuing a few turtles seems like such a small act, and we may never eradicate those damaging invasives; yet we want to do what we can. Pondering the parameters of global warming is important, but working on a new footbridge for the Garden is too—it provides us the blessing of understandable, accessible goals.

The Friends are engaged with several projects as the 2010 season unfolds. Most of them are immediate and concrete, and many have been created by the vision and energy of Friends members. The Student Transportation Grant, bringing hundreds of summer school enrollees to the Garden this season, is the brainchild of Gary Bebeau and Ann Godfrey. A new Plant Photo Guide for Shelter visitors, based on images from our website, is in development because of volunteer Jayne Funk.

Under the leadership of Jim Proctor and Ellen Lipschultz, the Friends Invasive Plants Action Group fights on against garlic mustard and buckthorn in the Garden’s buffer zone. This beautiful newsletter is in our hands because of the work of editor Judy Remington and her team. Many dedicated people are contributing their ideas and efforts to support and protect the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary as a unique garden preserve for learning and enrichment.

And while we are working on different aspects of this goal, let us also savor the pleasures of the season. We should practice the art of appreciation that is nurtured by our relationship with the Garden. The sensuous tone of summer almost requires that we slow down and pay attention to her languorous rhythm. And maybe that is nature’s secret lesson, as well. In an 1856 journal entry, H. D. Thoreau instructed:

Consider the turtle. A whole summer — June, July and August — is not too good nor too much to hatch a turtle in. Perchance you have worried yourself, despaired of the world, meditated the end of life, and all things seemed rushing to destruction; but nature has steadily and serenely advanced with a turtle’s pace.

Yours for a serene summer,

J. Pam Weiner
President