Reminiscing about Turtles By Thomas Rutherford

The other day I had the opportunity to attend (another) beautiful Winter Spiral Garden on the property of Sage Programs. This spiral felt somehow different from the others I had attended over the years and I began to wonder why. In attempting to be present in the moment I had never really allowed myself to experience the impact of this garden in my life over time. Spiral Gardens are ceremonies that take place on the back of Turtle Garden at Sage Programs.

Turtle is perhaps at her most beautiful in a Winter Spiral Garden, bedecked in boughs of evergreen and lit by countless candles with singing voices carrying to the stars on a crisp winter evening. And even with all of that beauty before me my mind drifted elsewhere. It drifted back to the days of Turtles construction (I had a hand in the building of this garden),through countless ceremonies and childrens plays that quite literally brought tears to my eyes to the day of my own wedding which also happened on Turtles back!

My mind continued to drift as I watched the children slowly making their way to the center of the spiral and I began to remember my own sons life as a younger boy. When he was a young tyke he used to catch virtually any creature he could lay his small hands on. While hiking in the Twin Lakes area outside of town he found a tiny orphaned snapping turtle

and brought it home. My son promptly named him Mussolini and we had a new family member. Years down the road Mussolini was too large for his indoor home and so I built an outdoor pond home for him quite close to Turtle Garden. This year marks Mussolini's third of going dormant and wintering over outside.

My daydream ended with the ending of a song and it's a bit of a shame because at that moment in my mind Mussolini was oh so slowly making his way to the center of the spiral on Turtle's back. These turtles and people are part of me and that is something I am just so thankful for.