enlightenment

Life is not about knowing but about learning. If you think you have things figured out then you've closed yourself off to the wonderful possibility of improvement. That's my train of thought for today.

It was a very calm morning. Gentle, with a slower pace, and some old habits thrown in, just to remind myself of how easy it is to create a peaceful moment when you have all components at your fingertips -- a flower, fruit, yogurt, coffee.

It's not a real breakfast, because I have that one ahead of me -- with my two breakfasting friends.

That breakfast was a remarkable meal! A mushroom tart, a blueberry lemon cake -- you could not ask for a better way to spend a morning.

The nice thing about having friends who are even older than you is that they will have that many more layers of wisdom. You benefit from their experiences. (Here's a fun fact: except for two young things and one sort of young soul, all my good friends are older than me!) 

I left feeling deeply satisfied. And just to give you an inkling as to one wisdom (out of the many) that really stuck with me from today -- it was a quote from a book (that I am actually just going to start in on, but one that my friend already read titled "Foster") -- Many’s the man that lost much because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.

(my friend takes making a cup of coffee to a whole new level)

 

I came home to my garden. And I worked hard. Really hard. I mowed, I trimmed, I weeded, I dug another hole. Heavy stuff that made me toil and sweat, with great pleasure. I dont know about you, but hard physical work requires such concentration that I stop thinking about anything beyond the task at hand. What else in life gives you that kind of respite from your anxious thoughts? Okay, reading a book, maybe. But working hard in the yard -- for sure.

In concentrating on my roses, I see that most are doing well. One has a white fly infestation (bring out the Neem!), a handful have some black spot fungus -- understandable given the weather -- but nothing a few snips can't cure.

It is true that when I first got interested in roses, I picked ones that were vibrant in color and available inexpensively. Only after weeks of studying roses, did I develop other selection criteria -- like disease resistance, blooming habits, to say nothing of fragrance and color softness. Height didn't matter on my first round. Now it's very important! The age, too, matters. Older ones give you a head start -- important for a senior just starting in on this project. And especially important is the nursery where they are cultivated: I've had some careless growers send me plants slated to fail (I got my money back on most of them!). Basically I figured out how best to buy roses  now that I no longer intend to buy any! (My planting budget is closed for the year. Besides, the garden is plenty full right now. Any future expansion has to be carefully thought through. Possibly not worth the money.)

I put down my shovel, mower and buckets for the day and set out to pick up Millie. Just when the storms and rains started. Uff! This is what driving under a tornado warning looks like:

 

 

We made it home safely! Of course we did. Ed comes over for a supper of leftovers. Millie rests. And I'm starting to unwind. Not there yet by any means, but getting there. Tonight I'm smiling.

with so much love...