Ed and I talked about house building. Could I build a whole livable structure by myself, knowing nothing about constructing homes? He claims that the only reason I cannot is because I have no interest in learning the essentials. In growing flowers, I picked up knowledge over the years. But I shut off any source of construction knowledge and leave that stuff to him. In my opinion, Ed can build anything at all: a complicated computer operated metal milling machine, or a beautiful house he, indeed we, could call home. He claims that with all the information online now, anyone could learn. I have my doubts.
My point is that we can learn, yes, of course, but to do a credible job, it helps to have a predisposition that allows you absorb the relevant information and learn well. Too, we should acknowledge our weaknesses. Writing well is a skill that some will never get to because they're not wired for it. Building a beautiful home is the same: from the design itself to the construction of it, you're using parts of your brain in ways that are commendable and I don't think those parts of my brain are developed well enough for me to ever move beyond something quite basic (and therefore, in today's times -- uninhabitable).
Yes, everyone has a genius within, but most people are not geniuses across all domains.
We talk about this because my work in the flower fields is so very time consuming and exact that he is forever amazed how much is required to produce the effect we have now.
Today, for example, you'd think I would not be caught dead holding a hose (after three days of lengthy watering forays). But in fact, in weeding the sunny bed, I noticed that the soil around some of the flowers is unusually dry. They could do with a touch up. So, I pull out a bucket full of weeds and I watered some more.
All this after breakfast, of course. Which is on the porch.
The switch from garden talk to house construction came about because I once again have been catching up on the continuing saga of Pete the farmer on YouTube's Just A Few Acres Farm. Ed likes to watch all posted episodes (the guy puts something up about twice a week). I come to it now and then. Today he rewatched with me the part where Pete takes his great grandfather's dilapidated farmhouse and rebuilds it. The place is really totally falling down. Within a handful of years, Pete nearly singlehandedly reconstructs the place into something that is quite lovely and very true to the original structure.
You have gardening skills because you like doing that stuff. If you liked building things, you'd acquire those skills as well.
I have gardening skills because I have been growing flowers for some forty years now. There was a lot of trial and error in the process of figuring out perennials, but the price of mistakes was a few lost flowers and a poorly designed bed, not a house that leaks water and crumbles at the foundation. While you're in it.
It's hard for people to admit that they have talent, I think. Modesty and self-doubt (I could be better if only....), especially in girls, lead you to be cautious about making grandiose statements about the extent of your abilities. I know I have pretty good musical pitch and I can put ideas into words. But let me assure you, I do not think I could take a crumbling 19th century farmhouse and rebuild it with the help of YouTube videos all on my own.
In the evening, the young family comes over. It's Father's Day of course and I have two sons-in-law who have mastered the art of fatherhood in such a fine way that I can only step back with a happy smile when I think about the wealth of wisdom and love that they bring into their families. Kind, empathetic, gentle, easy-going, always sage. They're all those things and the five grandkids I have are so much the richer for it!
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