We had a beautiful time today celebrating Maria’s birthday. First, we went to Mass MoCA, the great modern art museum in a vast restored mill in North Adams, Mass. Then we had lunch in their cafe; then we went to a beautiful plant store called the Plant Collector, a few miles from the museum.

Emily, the owner, a recent and happy refugee from New York City, has put herself right at the epicenter of the succulent and air plant sweeping plant lovers all over the country since the pandemic began. Maria has scores of succulent and air plants, and she claims I’m getting into it. I think she is right.

Emily is great, and we will be seeing her again and often, I imagine.

I saw many things I wanted to buy for Maria in Emily’s shop; she wanted the small one in the front of the photo (of course the smallest one), she said she didn’t have one like it. I saw this giant air plant (above right) and bought it as a birthday present for Maria.

We then had our usual fight when I tried to buy her something in a store. She wanted to get something for me. This is your birthday, I said, not mine.

She insisted on buying something for me, and I gave in – there are reasons why Maria gets along so well with donkeys – and she purchased the two graceful air plants and the metal vase they were standing in.

I wanted to take her to a vintage clothing store up the road in the hope of getting her something there, but Maria never likes shopping, especially for herself, so we came home to face a bunch of hungry dogs,  donkeys, and sheep. I’ve got three air plants on my desk now, but I had a blast in the plant store. I think we’re jumping on this plant train. It seems in some way to be healing and nourishing.

I guess we just like taking care of living things. Something weird is happening to me, I’m loving vegetables and buying plants. I’m starting to scare myself.