Yesterday, we held our annual Frühlingsfest on the Brüsseler Platz in the center of Cologne, where for many years our group of volunteer gardeners has tended the green spaces surrounding the square and the Neo Romanesque St Michael’s church at its center. This morning, I was reflecting on the day and thought to share it with you.

June 8, 2024

A sweet spot of a day

Sunlight drifted through the canopy of mature Plane trees, plantanus acerfolia, ripe from rich spring rains, shifting its focus as the day progressed from morning into early evening.

Air cool but warmed; the effort of our work never rising to the surface of our skin long enough to dampen it. The laughter of children, so many children, from the still swaddling to the toddleringly confident, teens and tweens, young men and women. The Geiger-kinder performed a string concert for us on the steps of St. Michael’s.

And the elders, gathered at the edge of the fire we tended in the middle of it all, my son and I – a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand years and the river of the warm spring day, the break from winter, the gardens rich with green and red and gold, still flows, and we come together to celebrate the promise of life, of community.

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