In Sebastopol there is a Peace Garden: I know because my Mom was one of the “hippies” who thought of the idea and planted it over 30 years ago. Actually, she planted it as a member of the EarthStewards group. I have photos of Mom and the founder Danaan Parry hugging. I went to the garden this past Spring, since Mom had died, based on a very distant memory of it.

I saw the first few flowers in the 1980’s in that garden, and thought they’d die without water within one year, or get uprooted by the terrifying Sebastopol Gophers; the flowers were so small and fragile.  I was that pessimistic about how much Mom and her group could do when I was young. Although I wanted peace as much as everyone else. The Berlin Wall was still up, and wars never seemed to end in the Middle East. You won’t believe what I found …. continue reading