Oops! Wrong Nora Ephron film. Do you remember the one where Tom Hanks puts Meg Ryan’s independent book store out of business? This is the place. This is the place that made everyone in the movie theater pretend that they weren’t crying because of course these two belonged together—even though he ruined her life.

(Last laugh belongs to Amazon, though, since they’ve put the big box book stores out of business. Who’s going to eat up Amazon? Whole Foods, that’s who. You heard it here first. Jeff Bezos can’t own every facet of daily life. He just can’t.)

In early spring, I walk past this garden in the hope of seeing something—anything—green struggling to push through the earth. It is a brilliant day when the whole menagerie is covered with that halo of light green that means there’s a 70/30 chance that it’s not going to snow again this year. The world is alive again!

However, it is this time of year, late summer, when I love this garden most. This particular year, the garden has completely run riot. The volunteers have been unable to keep up with the extravagant growth brought about by extra helpings of rain followed by hot sunny days. That’s just fine by me.

Maybe someday I’ll actually get to step inside the garden. Until then, I’ll hang outside the gardens where not-Harry met not-Sally and all was well in New York City.