In this affirmative new journal, May Sarton describes both hardships and joys in the daily round - physical struggles counterbalanced by the satisfactions of friendship, nature, growing fame, and a return to writing poetry. Sarton writes perceptively of how age affects her; the way small things take longer and tire more, how the body often hurts and feels fragile and scared. Other days energy returns, spirits lift, projects abound. She returns to the garden - and her descriptions of flowers have never been more luminous. She savors particular pleasures, from good soup to the friends who come and help keep everything going. At the center is Sarton's pleasure in the celebration of her work and in the knowledge that, without ever telling people what to do, her books have helped people change their lives. She ends with lines from George Herbert: "And now in age I bud again, / After so many deaths I live and write."