A friend's father's wisdom

"Doing what's right isn't always what makes you happy."

The Great Religions

The
Great religions are the
Ships,

Poets the life
Boats.

Every sane person I know has jumped
Overboard.

That is good for business
Isn't it

Hafiz?

– Hafiz

The record falls...and an Easter question

It didn't stand long. 21 eggs for Holy Saturday. They must be religious birds, working overtime for Easter.

Even as I finished yesterday's post, the bulbs arrived from Holland chanting "plant me!". They will have to wait, though, as it's a little too wet and I'm a little too busy. Today, the fig tree arrived and would not take no for an answer. It's planted and hopefully happy.

Meantime, since all of the entree is taken care of, I'm working on a pair of fruit tarts for the Easter feast.

So, does anyone know definitively when Lent officially ends? Daughter is scolding me for telling her she shouldn't break her Lenten soda fast until Easter Sunday, or at least sundown on Holy Saturday. I'm finding different opionions on the timing. I think I'm sticking to sundown Saturday.

(AC, an exception to the "rule".!?,. Oh no!)

Just in time planting

Well, I just made it. With eight hours to spare, I got the bulk of my seeds started while the moon is still waxing; it will be full in the eight o'clock hour this evening. Country lore says to plant "with" the moon. I don't mind a dash of superstition to season what little science I know of this gardening, along with a measure of ritual and tradition. I've got eight flats of starts under the lights in the mud/sunroom (what's with all these eights?); in excess of 150 seedlings if they all germinate. Six or eight (!) varieties of tomatoes; red, orange, and chocolate sweet peppers; cucumbers; four kinds of zinnias; asters (never done these before); dill, fennel, basil, parsley. If all goes well, they'll all end up in three or four different gardens by June. I have room for two more flats, which I'll use to test-germinate seed gathered from last year's garden — zinnias, marigolds, and echinacea. I'll start a few watermelons in mid-April. Never had much luck with vining fruit, except for the pumpkins that volunteered in the compost pile last year. Think I'll just plant the watermelons in the manure pile and see what happens.

Last autumn was so busy, I didn't get around to manuring and tilling the early-season bed. I think I'll be alright on fertility, but getting it turned over will be problematic in this wet season. We'll see how it is in another week, when the first of the cool-season seeds should go in the ground. Meantime, bulbs are on their way from Holland, and a fig tree from South Carolina. Oh, how will I fill my idle hours?

Clarification

My dear Hafiz,
I fear my message is being confused.
When you write about her stepping out of the bath
Everyone knows what you describe is sacred.
When I write about it,
Everyone just thinks I'm lewd.
I suppose everyone is right.

Printemps!

Spring Again

What is real and true
is right here in front of me:
Trees straight and reaching
Brown fields receding and reaching
Sprouted seeds, tubers and acorns
reaching
reaching
Me here reaching
for the promised Spring
Warm sun
Cool rains
Earth waking to the touch
of sun and rain
Faith enduring
The cycle rounding again
The moon of deer dropping horns
The moon of tender grass
The moons passing
one
after another
after another
Indifferent
to being noted
by me or
some (any) other
perishable being,
whether sitting
resolute
counting moons
or broken-hearted
wishing to dissolve
quarter by
quarter by
quarter
into the clear dark blue sky
with stars unidentified now
(Orion disappeared beyond the
sacred Western horizon
’til the next hunting moon)
disappeared
to where all is true and real
to where broken hearts
are just another
nebula
exploding
flashing
disappearing from the night
behind the trees
standing tall
branches outstretched
eager to embrace
the night
the constellations
(unnamable)
the moon in its every mood
quarter
half
quarter
gone
and tree frogs singing
(joyously)
(triumphantly)
“Who are you?”
“Where are you??”

2 April 2001

Final countdown...

Less than a day until it's officially spring! According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the 2005 vernal equinox will occur Sunday morning, 3/20/05, at 12:33 UT, or 7:33 a.m. Eastern time. This past week, the length of day officially passed the length of night.

Eggstra! Eggstra!

The girls set a record yesterday: 20 eggs...out of 25 hens. Something tells me it won't stand for long...

I've come unSprung

Well shoot, I've had it wrong all this time. It's spring, not Spring, summer, not Summer, etc. Sure seems like something as important as a season should be capitalized. Oh, well. As always, I defer to the Chicago Manual of Style.

One thing I am sure of: You can't go wrong if you always put the comma and the period inside the quotation mark.

Another Hafiz

BURGLARS HEAR WATCHDOGS

If one
Is afraid of losing anything
They have not looked into the Friend's eyes;
They have forgotten God's
Promise.

The jewels you get when you meet the Beloved
Go on multiplying themselves;
They take root
Everywhere.

They keep mating all the time
Like spring-warmed
Creatures.

Burglars
Hear watchdogs inside of His
Gifts

And run.

–Hafiz

It's in the air...

Yesterday morning: Hundreds and hundreds of Canada geese, echelon after echelon of loosely formed V's, headed due north. And in the garden, sedum and achillea poking through last Autumn's debris. Early buds on the shrubs and trees. Just a few days more, and it will be official...

Two thumbs up

Saw Les Choristes (The Choir) last night. A must-see! A beautiful, simple, touching story of a French reform school for boys. No special effects...just special. Go see it, or watch for the DVD.

Catching Up

It was inevitable that "daily" would prove too ambitious. It would be easy to post a new quote every day, but I fear that would quickly get old for you, dear reader. Unfortunately, the news from T-town is none too exciting, either. Daughter and I went boarding and skiing, respectively, on Monday. What a glorious day! Sweater weather. Then, the next, blizzard-like conditions. Ah, the joys of March! Spring is inevitable, though, and the peppers will be planted this weekend. And I have high hopes of getting the bike road-ready, too, to address my (almost daily) resolve to be able to pair the words "regular" and "exercise"...along with my (almost daily) resolve to enjamb "healthy" and "diet." Never ceasing to strive.

Miles Davis

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there."

The Same Stars

These are the same stars
I would see anywhere else —
That night in the New Mexico
desert, stopped nowhere
no lights
(with someone who was not you)
the sky (exploded)
a frozen fireworks display.
And so it is here, too,
or anywhere
(with anyone who is not you)
searching out the patterns
connecting the dots
there a bear
there a man with a belt
there a bow drawn
aiming further still
into the never-endingness
beyond the stars to where
no answers lie
nor questions
nor wonders ceasing
nor anything (that is not
you, or me)
the point of no return —
perhaps the same place
that hearts must travel
to find their home.
2 February 2003

Comments welcome!

Just changed the blogmeister setting so that anyone can comment without that pesky registration process. So respond away!

In the meantime...

No, I'm not up at 4 a.m. posting to the blog. The time stamp is in GMT, as described below, from www.greenwichmeantime.com. GMT is five hours ahead of us here on the East Coast. So the time you see on this post, three-forty-something GMT, is actual ten-forty-something here.

"Greenwich, England has been the home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) since 1884. GMT is sometimes called Greenwich Meridian Time because it is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

"The Greenwich Meridian (Prime Meridian or Longitude Zero degrees) marks the starting point of every time zone in the World. GMT is Greenwich Mean (or Meridian) Time is the mean (average) time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon.

"GMT is World Time and the basis of every world time zone which sets the time of day and is at the centre of the time zone map. GMT sets current time or official time around the globe. Most time changes are measured by GMT. Although GMT has been replaced by atomic time (UTC) it is still widely regarded as the correct time for every international time zone."

Gardens of the mind

"Writing and gardening, these two ways of rendering the world in rows, have a great deal in common."

– Michael Pollan
Second Nature, A Gardener's Education

What's for dinner?

This compliments of the Environmental Working Group.

Consistently most contaminated with pesticides; buy these organic: Apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, strawberries.

Consistently lowest in pesticides; enjoy in abundance: Asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples, sweet peas.

All fresh produce should be washed with soapy water; use a drop or two of dish detergent, or my preference, a dilute solution of Dr. Bronner's castille soap (milder and rinses easier).

Of course, the best strategy is to grow your own...or be nice to me at harvest time!

For more details and a handy pocket guide with the above information, visit http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php.