7.22.25 | Busy-ness
Lot of busy-ness going on in the garden.
Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.
It's a nice idea, but on a day-to-day basis it doesn't quite tell the whole story. It's a little too simplistic.
Matt and I have always tried to strike a good balance between work and life. Certainly as business owners the two tend to commingle quite a bit. For the most part, we have always enjoyed that. When we go out to dinner, or even when we are making dinner at home, the conversation almost always leads to things that we could improve at Zunzun. We find that kind of troubleshooting enjoyable. Doing our best to make it better for our regulars is satisfying. It's part of why we switched things up a year and a half ago. We needed new problems to solve.
Still, as life gets a little more complicated, the balance gets a little out of whack. Like many folks my age, I am at a stage in life where taking care of my parents requires an increasing amount of time and focus. It’s a worthwhile use of my time, but nevertheless it can become overwhelming.
So, how does one find rest and relaxation when days off aren't fully restorative? Paradoxically, I find myself working hard to relax and restore. I end up having to schedule downtime between all the other duties.
But then I step outside and watch the bees and butterflies and birds feed off of what is blooming in the garden, and something in my brain shifts. I start to think about the beehive that my friends are keeping not too far away. I assume that most of the honey bees that I see are coming from that hive. Bees locate flowers through a combination of visual, olfactory, and electrical senses. They are attracted to specific colors, especially those in the ultraviolet spectrum, and can detect the scent of nectar and pollen. Additionally, bees can sense the electric fields emitted by flowers, which helps them determine if a flower has been recently visited. There is so much more to this world than what meets the eye. It’s so good to be reminded of that.
About five years ago, I transplanted a Mimosa tree into our garden, and it has been such a beautiful attraction for several species. Lately there has been an Indigo Bunting that visits multiple times a day. I have set up a lounge chair in the shade that has a great vantage point. I get to watch as the bunting flits around from branch to branch catching what look to be small worms. And the other day I caught what I assume is a hummingbird mating dance happening in the Mimosa. The male did a quick side-to-side motion while the female sat on a small branch watching, uninterested.
How lucky am I to get to see this? The wonders of nature make me grateful and it's a state of mind that brings the world back into balance. Not entirely, but it helps.
—Becca
FROM THE JULY 22, 2025 NEWSLETTER | CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE