I did the rare, this evening: I watered my front garden.

That’s how inspired I was, after seeing the dream backyards at the Point Defiance Flower and Garden Show.  Since my back yard is sort of beyond hope, as the pups have their own version of gardening which includes search and destroy, (a wise master gardener, seeing my challenges, suggested I plant concertina wire if I wanted something “dog proof”) I decided the front will be my last hope.

And the garden show gave me ideas, could have sold me masses of plants from some very cool vendors, and firmed my resolve to not let the front go to hell.

Arriving at lunchtime, I was surprised at how busy it already was, and how many people were leaving, done with their garden day of fun by the time we arrived. But I guess, with gardening as well as aviary life, the early bird gets the worm.

I was also surprised, the lines to the coffee and food (gasp!!) were crazy long.

Hence, the wee one and I didn’t stop for food, and hence, the wee one’s complaints reached a crescendo by the time we reached the tents with craftspeople.

Apparently, she was so hungry her leg hurt.  So we had to high-tail it out of there, with her 45 pound body on my hip, up to where we had to park in Ruston (grrr.) (I would have walked, from home, but I knew the wee one’d complain, and we’d have had to walk a mile, both ways, uphill on the way home.)

At any rate, our brief time at the garden show made me happy; seeing the park I know and love transformed into inspirational outdoor spaces, and seeing so many people appreciating it all was well worth the pain in my back after we reached the car.

And that’s saying a lot. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

[Point Defiance Flower & Garden Show, Saturday, June 2 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, June 3 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., $15, children 12 and younger free with adult, Point Defiance Park, 5400 N. Pearl, Tacoma]