Category: Garden

Just between us, I’ve been ready for Fall since waaaaay before September 23!

It’s been hotter and dryer than usual in Atlanta this year. (You can do the math on climate change…) My garden is toast after a whole lot of internal debates over water conservation and a still tender calf muscle. Thankfully, it’s time to pull the summer veggies anyway and move on to the next right thing.

Our air conditioner is no doubt as relieved as the resident huge, hairy dogs are. It was 60 degrees when we made our first venture out back this morning and they just wanted to lay in the cool grass.

This has long been a transitional time of year for me. Ever since my first first day of school, complete with an unfortunate haircut, uncomfortable shoes, and a “sweet” plaid dress from Sears, I’ve felt the pull to change things when it’s time for autumn again.

I’ve been pondering those suede-y sheep skin sort of boots in catalogs, despite the fact that buying shoes in cyberspace rarely works for me. Last night I was browsing chair woobies online.

And, this year, another piece of the puzzle fell into place for me. It started with a new creativity class called Tree Woman, in which we were urged to go wandering outdoors looking closely at nature. Not just the big picture, but very small details.

Nature, where I live, involves trees and birds and a fading garden. It also involves an urban landscape of concrete and bricks and utility wires and front porch decor.

I was exploring my front porch (Really!) when I encountered an abandoned bird’s nest tucked away in a ceramic fountain, still hanging on a brick wall after the pump broke a few years back.

Now, I know nests are usually associated with spring, at least in the Northern Hemisphere but, for me, nesting is a familiar fall kind of thing, which probably explains the fuzzy boots and cozy woobies.

All of which is convenient at the moment because it’s a fluffing sort of time at our house. One of those more function out of the same space issues, which is, when you think about it, creativity of a different sort. Or, perhaps, the creativity behind the creativity!

Though ours is going to need a bit more color than the one on my porch!

The umpteenth round of furniture Yahtzee is planned for later this week. An experimental space for doing  Zoom meetings with a more me background is in place. A desk-ish piece of furniture with a pull-out keyboard tray is the next likely move there.

There’s also the delightful news that our kids are coming for Christmas!

I’m fascinated by the Danish and Norwegian word, Hygge. I don’t seem to have the genetic ability to pronounce it, but it means a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. 

That’s just what I want for the nest inside our brick walls, inspired by the one outside. What are you hoping for in this season??? I’d love to hear!

For now, though, the big studio angels want out where it’s cool, again!

Me without words is, generally speaking, a bit of an oxymoron! And yet, that’s pretty much the way I’ve been feeling.

A couple of days ago I got a text from a dear friend. I’m sharing it here, with permission of course, because it has lodged in my heart.

…a side note – if you prayer dot today, put some up for me and [Joe]. He’s angry and sad and frustrated over shootings and we’re trying to decide how to respond. I sent him off to church today while I crawl under covers (our usual responses, him outward, me inward), scared the church could be targeted, or his school tomorrow, etc. We’ll be donating and/or writing later and registering him to vote the minute he turns 17 1/2 (presidential elections are days after his 18th birthday!), but throwing up extra prayer dots at this point can’t hurt.

Fortunately, I have a painting in progress that was happy to volunteer for dots. Finger dots, this time. On their way to being a meadow beneath a Klimpt-esque tree of life.

And while I made dots, I pondered.

The friend on Facebook under attack for expressing her views on moving toward effective gun safety laws in the USA.

A high school kid who should be worried about dance try outs afraid that his church or school will be attacked. A suburban kid with an educated family and plans for college.

Two beloved granddaughters I hope are excited about choosing a new, more intense level of involvement in their swim team journey and looking forward (mostly!) to the new school year who happen to live way too close to the epi-center of utter political dysfunction to realistically avoid the news.

And this grandmother asking her usual question… “What, then, shall we do?”

First (You guessed it!) more dots. Not simply because I’m convinced that they add to the positive energy in the Universe and make real change closer to possible, moment by moment.

And not simply because I believe in a Creator who is, after all these eons and against all odds, still working good for us.

But also because making dots changes us. As we focus on someone’s request, or the huge, gaping needs of the world, we also get access to more of our own process. We get in touch with our inner Observer who is quite likely to surprise us with new information and new ideas for action we probably didn’t notice in the midst of our angst.

In short, making dots helps us connect rather than isolate. And I believe that connection is the key to what ails our world. (Even if, now and then, what patches us together enough to connect is our pillow and a favorite quilt!)

And, I have a few other ideas, as well.

The first batch are pretty obvious for many of us. Find political candidates on the local, state, and national levels who want the kind of world you want and support them. Wear a button. Put a sign in your yard. Give what you can. Each individual contribution matters!  Write or call your representatives. If they’re like most of mine, they’ll ignore you, but it’s our responsibility to speak out, regardless. Even if our voices quiver!

Make something better. Even if it’s only trimming the muscadines gone rogue in your front garden. Or cleaning up litter. Or a community art project.

Celebrate what’s working in life and in the world.

Make space for the ones you love.

Be available for conversations (which are different from lectures) with the young people you love, when they’re ready.

Make things. Cookies. Treehouses. Gardens. Soup. Lego worlds. Dots. Quilts. Stories. Remembering as you do, in whatever way it works for you, that we humans could well be described as creations of a Creator creating.

And try asking your inner Observer to help you notice the ways we are alike instead of focusing on the ways we’re different. It takes a bit of practice but it helps, a lot.

And, maybe, just maybe, give thanks for teenagers with something to teach!

The longest of journeys begins with one step. Please don’t miss out!

Clearly, I wasn’t quite as speechless as I felt! Part of that is due to the words of wise teachers pondering these same questions… notably Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, Julie Steelman, Dina VanDecker- Tibbs, and Anne Lamott.