Contrasting Pictures of the Perennials

Knew I had these pictures somewhere! The bottom picture shows the side treated. The pictures were taken only a few weeks apart - the timing wouldn't have made such a big difference in the vigor or blooming of the plants. The soil composition is identical (horrible - acidic and very low in nutrients) and both sides received identical water and sunlight. Interesting, huh? Pictures taken in late July and early August. Just looking at these cheered me up!

Missing My Garden

This is the time of year when I start to really, really miss my garden. I miss being outside in the sunshine. I miss hearing the sweet trill of birdsong. I miss all the little nuances of color and scent. I'm reading my seed catalogs more frequently these days than my Bible, which probably isn't a good thing.

Sure, there's outside work to do now. But do you ever notice how in the wintertime, any kind of garden chore is a struggle? We tried to fill the next vegetable bed with compost and soil, but the bags of soil and peat moss are frozen so they weigh twice as much. We gave up and figure it can wait until spring; we've got six of the ten raised beds filled and ready.

Walks with Shadow and our afternoon hike are barely fulfilling my longing. Spring seems so far away.

Just a few more weeks until I can turn on the indoor lights for seed starting. A few more weeks of planning, rest and reading. I want to go with the flow of the seasons and use this season as God intended; for planning, and rest. He gave the garden winter so it could rest and prepare for the next season. I'm not good with waiting. But His timing is perfect, so onwards to the next right thing to do today....but I still miss my sunshine.

Lights Out

So after a productive day on Friday, I settled in with my cozy afghan and my pets to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Sigh. I just LOVE the little girl who plays Lucy. Can I adopt her? She is not only perfect in that role she is just so adorable. Anyway, just as things were getting good and Edmund munched on turkish delight, the lights flared, dimmed, flared, and then the electricity went out. Not to worry. These things happen in the country. After waiting half an hour, I called Dominion power, only to hear the news that they didn't expect the power back on until 10:30. Not to worry, the family channel was showing the movie again at 9:30 pm, so if the lights came back on at 10:30 I'd be nearly at the same spot in the movie where I left off....no lights at 10:30. I stumbled into bed by the light of a flashlight, and awoke at 4 am when the electricity finally came back on. Brrr! Chilly night too, but thankfully the house temperature didn't dip below 60. I'm always so curious as to what causes these random power outages in the countryside, but I may never know.

It's always a reminder when the electricity goes out to be thankful for electricity! We put candles around the Nativity set on the TV stand and they lit the living room nicely, but it was too dark really to read. John and I told each other stories from when we were little. I never knew his neighbor and our good friend, Gus Bartik, had a peacock! This was a suburban Long Island community. John told me Gus raised ducks in his little yard and he had a peacock. He said the peacock used to fly up onto all the neighbor's roofs and caw or whatever it is they do. I couldn't stop laughing. What a funny picture! I told him how I had bit into a wax pear in a bowl of fake fruit in my grandmother's house - I wasn't fooled by the fruit, I was just fooling around, and boy was I punished for that. Then I told him about the pictures she had in her kitchen. She liked those harlequin type clowns. They scared me.

I reminisced about my Uncle Arthur and Aunt Janice and my cousins, visiting with them in their house in Bowie, Maryland, about their dog Jackie who used to tinkle at the first sight of a guest and about how kind my cousin Andrew was to me, taking me out into the yard and playing ball to keep me from being bored, and how Cathy showed me her Barbie dolls even though she was a teenager and probably bored stiff.

Later we went outside to see if we could spot the promised meteor shower, but no luck. I did see some sort of large animal slinking through the orchard by the light of the full moon. From our upstairs bathroom window you have an amazing view of nearly half the yard. Although the moonlight was bright, I couldn't tell what kind of animal it was. By the size and how it moved I think it was the coyote back for a visit!

Learning How to Live

I made a startling discovery this week. I am finally learning how to live.

It's been a little over a year since I left Manhattan's teeming streets for a quiet rural life. In that year, I've launched one company, improved a second one, and relaunched my writing career. We've unpacked and made a home here, added gardens, planted an orchard, and made a spiritual home at St. Theresa's. I've taken courses at the Cooperative Extension and made friends. And it's all been wonderful.

Yet I wasn't enjoying myself. I planned one activity after another, and if I wasn't at my desk for a full eight hours or more a day I felt as if I were slacking off. Yet who was yelling at me? A tiny voice inside my own head, that's who...it was my 'responsible nature' and that enormous well of self-discipline that was going to be my undoing.

So this past month, I've worked on learning how to relax. Each day I stop working at 4pm. John and I take Shadow for a walk through our woods, our gorgeous woods. We stop and look at the wild plants. We found a place yesterday deep in the woods where deer must have rested, for the pine needles were pushed into the shape of an animal and there were hoof marks everywhere. I found wild wintergreen and beautiful old holly bushes. We went down to our creek, little Clearwater Creek, and found a big tree had fallen across it and now we have a homemade bridge. Shadow dipped her toes into the water and the big tufts of golden fur in her German Shepherd feet make tassels. I come home and cook a nice meal for the family now, taking my time to enjoy cooking. I listen to my old records on the stereo and light the fire in the family room. I'm taking time to enjoy my life.

Are you enjoying yours?

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for my posts to change from musings on gardening and this new lifestyle to just musings in general, mostly about this sacred season. Or what is supposed to be a sacred season. I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older, and I hope - and pray - a bit wiser, but the rampant commercialism, particularly among our children, is getting to me. Last week on so-called "Black Friday" the news cast about the death of the Wal Mart employee in Valley Stream caught my attention. Now of course my ears perked up at the mention of Valley Steam - that's where my older sister lives, and it's right near where I grew up in Floral Park, Long Island. I know the mall where the tragedy happened. I used to shop there with my friends in high school. Actually, our parents told us to avoid it since there was a lot of crime there, but that's beside the point. Images of shoppers rushinig the doors to get plasma screen televisions and knocking down an employee and trampling him to death just kept playing through my mind.

What is wrong with these people?

Greed. And it's not something "wrong" per se. It's a natural animal instinct. My dog, Shadow, is greedy and possessive around food. Well, she's a dog - she can't help herself. If the cat comes within five feet of her when she's eating, there's a blur of fur, teeth and growls as she asserts her dominance and command over her food bowl. She's so greedy around food that she stole an oatmeal cookie off John's plate when he left his snack unattended while watching television. (Picture this big furry German Shepherd just standing next to his recliner chair holding the cookie in her mouth - she stole it, but didn't eat it, waiting until he returned to 'ask' permission. Of course since the cookie was now covered with dog drool, she got it). All animals are greedy.
But aren't we supposed to be better than that now? Haven't we as humankind grown up a bit since our animal ancestry days? Whether you're a Christian, Muslim, Jew or Hindu, greed is frowned upon. Our parents try their best to teach us to share when we're children. We learn that sharing is caring and that greed is bad.
So what happens?
Consumerism, commercialism, and a relentless drive towards having and getting more push our buttons. Throw in 'group think' and people waiting in the cold overnight in a Wal Mart parking lot for a bargain and you get a frantic, animalistic crush.
My family has a simple solution. It may be controversial, but it works for us. We no longer give Christmas presents. We buy ourselves small gifts under $20 to wrap and put under the tree. For the children, we do still give presents, but for everyone else, we try to give presents only we can give. Time spent together during the holidays. Home baked and home cooked goodies. And at this season, we contribute to charity. The pennies
I've thrown into my piggy bank throughout the year added up to a nice gift that will go into the retirement fund for Catholic religious, a donation I give every Christmas to thank the priests and nuns who formed my conscience and who taught me how to read, write and think. We'll give to the local food bank to show we care and we'll go to the children's concert where our friends teach at the local Christian Academy, gifts of time once more.

Get rid of consumerism and commercialism. Focus on Christ, the reason for the season.