On October 22nd, 1837, Henry David Thoreau decided to begin a journal. Years later, he’d written right around a zillion pages. Only a slight exaggeration.

The third little thing he jotted down that first day was this: “The Germans say — Es is alles wahr wodurch du besser wirst.” The quotation is from Goethe. “Everything is true by which you become better.”

I thought that was just plum beautiful.

And it was a great thing to have in mind the night before a day of plum-viewing.

The plum-viewing was just behind a friend’s house, which backs up to the Setonoya River  and the plum trees that grow down by its banks. 

It was warmer than in past years. We all seemed content, under the blossoms, to let the day flow on by.

Under the trees . . .

. . . the words would sometimes pop into my head:

Everything is true by which you become better.

Of course they did.

One cherry tree was down there, too. He couldn’t wait another month to bloom. Wanted to be out and about with the plums. Who could blame him?