September 8, Gardens

1559 Hours, sunny with a slight breeze.  I am sitting on a rocky path on the Kaneko grounds.  The shade from a maturing Birch tree shades me from the sun overhead.  I chose this spot because it brings me closer to the new student gardens than my view from my second story balcony would.  Sometimes, when one walks along the paths on the Willamette campus, he or she loses touch with the smallest organisms that they share the campus with.  Here on my selected spot on the rocky path, there are hundreds of miniscule black ants.  All crawling back and forth along the edge and none daring to venture far from the safety of the grass.  They work quickly and diligently, but not with any apparent job or destination in mind.  On a larger scale, there is the garden in front of me now as well.  There are ten mounds of dirt with various plants growing in each.  Perhaps the most interesting plant that I can see from my spot is one of a purplish color.  It stands up a little bit taller than a half of a foot and has round leaves, some of which droop downwards to the ground that it grows from.  On the mound next to the purple plant is a shorter one that varies from red to green.