A selection of wisdom from the archives and new additions.
7/23/2009
Helping Hands
I’d made this collage a while back and thought it appropos today. Last night I watching some dreck on Hollywood radical remedies, including lipo which suctions fat from the butt and inserts it in wrinkled hands. Botox can freeze faces but wrinkled hands are the dead giveaway of age. The ‘before and after’ images of the female subject were impressive but creepy.
Don’t we have anything better to do with our hands? Go on reach out and touch someone, lend a hand, pray, hold, caress and comfort but stay away from your butt fat. How about giving thanks to all the millions of things your hands do, including tapping away at the keyboard, holding your coffee cup… you get the picture.
My recent photo substitute.
Westchester Wednesdays — A Zen Moment
Wednesday snuck up on me and I hadn’t completed any of the half dozen possible topics.
Sometimes, the best thing is in front of your nose, or in this case in my back yard. By a wild raspberry patch stood a large hole, good for twisting an ankle in, so I covered it with an old bowl. Rain filled it creating this reflection of sky and a photo op of empty fullness or full emptiness. Take your pick, the choice is always yours.
Oh, I remember that image it was really lovely But this will have to do instead.
Quote de jour
“A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.”
~Laurie Colwin
No matter how you pronounce it, it’s tomato season and I can’t get enough. Fried green ones, sun-warmed beefsteaks sprinkled with basil, heirloom tomatoes eaten like apples…
I confess that my eyes widened when I read about the staggering 40 billion dollars Americans spend on gardening. (that figure jumped last year to 47.8).
I am one of the 83 million people in this country who garden which got me thinking: why? Why do we get dirty and sweaty, doing back-breaking hauling, hoeing, watering, weeding, coaxing things in the ground which may or may not grow.
Nature makes no bargains with us or hands out guarantees. The beautiful roses from last year may have blight this year. We work with blind faith and hope for the best.
In the meantime, here’s a few eco-green gardening tips I use.
1) I crush eggshells and sprinkle them with coffee grounds in the herb garden. It seems to keep down slugs and other pests.
2) Mulch, mulch and mulch some more. You will need to water and weed less.
3) Plant native plants. Find out what plants are native to your area, They have a natural advantage. Good info at http://www.nwf.org/
4) Wear gloves. I still don’t as much as I should, but every time I get bloodied from a thorn and itchy from poison ivy I regret it.
5) Harvest rain water but add a screen to keep mosquitoes from breeding.
6) Keep flowers and plants pesticide-free to attract butterflies and bees.
If all else fails, go enjoy the beauty of else’s garden or natural reserve.
