Apropos of Nothing v.6

That's awesome. Well done, MOM. And aren't they an attractive couple, gold LAME (LOL) and all.

They are cute, aren't they? I found myself wondering how she could survive the night in those shoes, however. They were very cute but looked positively painful.

Holly, you well know how 'entertaining' motherhood can be when there are adolescents running about.

Some people witness because it has been something in their lives that has made it better. Why would that harm anyone? If you haven't asked for it it can be unwelcome but if something is difficult in your life, you can receive benefit from the successes they have received. Much like serotonin suggestions. Like my running around the house naked in the sun. Builds Vit D and Serotonin.

But it doesn't do any good, Sofer, if it drives people away & makes them avoid you. I'm a believer, as you know, yet I still think Connie is a royal pain. Well, I love her, but she has no common sense.

Motherhood: Best described as entertaining in those tear-your-hair-out never-a-dull-moment episodes. I have rescued my share of concert dress from being half done in the laundry a half hour before time to be on stage. I have become adept at carefully drying shirts with a hair dryer. Somehow, this attire never manages to be put in the laundry directly after use to be easily accessible and hanging in the closet at the time it is meant to be put on the next time around. And I have showed up with FOOD when it was forgotten but desperately needed before the marching band set off in a parade. But these do not make nearly so good of a story as your outfitting not one, but two young people with creative and elegant costumery on amazingly short notice.

Geez Sofer!!! Now I'm stuck with tha picture in my head! LOL

The poetry....momma said if can't say something nice, etc. nuf said

Pix, that story cracked me up. Good job and what a cute couple they make. Brought back memories of my boys.

Hope all the ouchies get taken care of, sounds painful. I always carry my pruners when I walk back to the river, to cut blackberry vines, maybe I should get a belt.

Eh, I don't buy that thing about momma said. If we all just walked around saying something nice rather than calling crap crap, the human race would have starved to death somewhere around 10,000 B.C.

Oh my, Soferdig. It's not the witnessing that is a problem. It's the use of the words 'heavy handed' which cause me, personally, to wince. And I'm not sure this lady has experienced very many 'spiritual' successes, based on the content of her poem. I don't mean the style, I mean the actual meaning. Very sad. True, it's probably bad form to be negatively amused by said poetry, I admit. My bad. Sometimes by the time I get to posting here, I'm running out of my usual compassion and understanding and....well..., I blame Summerkid. It's all her fault anyway.
I do think that heavy handed anything puts most people off. It tends to be intended to either frighten people into 'believing' or make them feel guilty. I, personally, have never felt like you have been heavy handed in your advice to run naked under the sun to increase your necessary brain chemicals. I don't feel the least bit guilty about not doing it, and I'm not afraid that bad things will happen if I don't. If I've been left with a certain indelible image after your posts, that is completely my problem and no fault of yours. If I've been heavy handed with my preaching about the joys of increased serotonin during the long winter, then I hope I will be forgiven and people will move on. I certainly would not want people to feel guilty about not getting enough light! That would be terrible!

Holly, I'm sure you could write any number of stories about all of those things and more!! LOL! It's really only funny when you read it. At the time, it's very stressful. We are as one on that.

Summerkid, there are ways to call crap without acting crappy, right? I know you know this. Papa Sofer is right. We are bad children for laughing at the sad lady. I will now go buy more seeds.

Don't worry about Aunt Connie, she is not a sad lady -- she has a hot husband & they are millionaire beet farmers in northeastern Montana. There is one son who suffered some brain injury in a car accident & will always live with them, but then there is her daughter, Pandora, who is an absolute & funny delight.

Summerkid.....I'm really not known for keeping my thoughts to myself if I think it can make a difference. But sometimes it's best to just not say anything. I have a neighbor that is stressing because I haven't taken down my icicles from Christmas. Of course she didn't tell me, she told another neighbor, it's a running joke about the things she stresses over. I got started taking things down, I'm never in a hurry, I hate the gloom after all the lights. Then DH went in the hospital.....very stressful, o.k. now, but icicles were forgotten. Now I'll leave them up a little longer just cause I know it's bothering her. Aren't I evil!! LOL

This message was edited Jan 11, 2010 10:56 PM

If she is worrying about your icicles, Sally, she has too much time on her hands. Maybe she would like to volunteer to come take them down and pack them neatly away for you?


Hmm. Millionaire beet farmers. But a brain damaged son. Hmm.. Well, I am sorry for that, I truly am. Maybe for both of those things, I'm not sure. But the daughter named Pandora... that is extremely interesting!

Yeah, even Pandee's mother can't explain that one!

Sally - it's so very comforting to know that you have a similar sinister side. Please leave your icicles up through St. Patrick's day - maybe she'll turn!

Sharon - I have had great success with applying an herbal poultice of chinese mustard & garlic on thorn punctures. Wash wound, make a paste of the mustard/garlic &a bit of wate; apply thickly & cover with gauze. It will draw up any piece of the thorn. If it continues to hurt/throb, have it looked at.

Thanks for the birthday wishes - this one was truly weird.
I needed that Cosmos today, Willow!!!

Melissa - very nice costumes. And I concur - this is much of what mothers do: provide necessities in a snap.

I want to know where the pointy slippers on your son came from.

LOL on the icicles. A friend on the NE forum wants to take down yard decoration wires, but they have become buried in snow and ice. She may HAVE to wait til St. Patrick's day.

The pointy slippers are my house slippers. They were made by a craftsperson in the Port Townsend area and were a spur of the moment purchase for me by my DH, who knows I love these kinds of things. They are purple wool.

And they danced in those shoes/slippers?

You have many talents, Pixy! How cool!

^_^

Sorry guys to seem controversial I was only seeing someone I don't know being criticized for being Christian. It is a socially acceptable thing to do and I am defensive. I misunderstood the background story. I saw a woman reaching out in pain obviously I was wrong. I being a man am too sensitive to the needs of others. You must put up with me. LOL
I too have ballet slippers but they are rubber bottomed and leather at the top and often are covered with manure. I playfully pirouette in my garden compost. I find this the easiest way to strengthen my muscles for piqu'e.

Pix, what I want to know is where did you ever wear the gold lame dress?

Now then, to share some more poetry, somewhat appropriate for a gardening forum, by no means great literature, but containing some wit and humor. These are by my dad, who is only with us in spirit, so his feelings will not be hurt if we get a chuckle out of them. As a matter of fact, I think that was the point. He was fond of the limerick.

Soil Enrichment

The compost is for corn cobs and rinds,
And for most organic items you might find,
But please throw no bones,
nor add plastic cones,
To grow food to enhance all our minds

Bedtime Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I trust my soul will keep to beep,
If I die before I wake,
I ask my friends my grave to rake,
The good thing is I wasn't a fake.

Yes, Christians walk a fine line. I think it's the most reviled "religion" in America. It's OK for people to say they feel kinship with Buddhism or whatever, and we all think they're on a spiritual quest. But if you say, "I believe in God & the Bible," people shriek, "Stop preaching at me!" and label you a fanatic.

I've listened to people spout all sorts of stuff about their beliefs in crystals & energy & Buddhism & Zen this or that here on DG, but let me say, "Well, I believe in one path," and they once again shriek, "You're not allowed to talk about your beliefs on this forum!"

My favorite is when people say they believe in X, Y & Z but aren't part of a "religion." Why is religion such a bad thing?

Sofer, Don't change a bit or apologize for who you are. You are still high on my list. If you weren't married to such a great woman, and I wasn't going to marry such a great man, you would be the man of my dreams.

We are all a community and no one should be threatened by love. Only with all of us accepting each unique self can we grow into a community who supports all without fear.
I feel honoured Lynn by such comments. Thank you.

I think I want Lynn's fiance. What's his name, honey?

You are most welcome, Sofer. That was not meant as a come-on.

I was raised Catholic when I lived with my grandma and aunt when I was a young girl, went to the Methodist church in High School with my best friend, "converted" to Mormon at 18 when I moved in with my mother and her Mormon husband, so what "religion" am I? I honestly do not know. But I feel a devotion to a higher spirit that I call God. I pray every night, I try to not sin ( well, that is a tough one), I ask for forgiveness and guidance, and I try to do good to others. I do not go to a "formal" church now, so does that not make me a "Christian"? Does donating a lot of money to a church entitle that person to a guaranteed spot in heaven? I think I am endangering my membership to DG now, so I will change subjects. So, is it too late to plant bulbs now? I have 2 bags from Costco that I found in the garage that I have not planted yet. Uh oh!

Summer, that was so funny. His name is Joey, and he is a good man. You will have to come and meet us someday. You are welcome to our home when you are in the area.

If they are not mushy, go ahead and plant them. They would like that much better than staying in the bag or getting thrown in the trash. If it is truly too late, and they are beyond hope, the compost awaits. I always comfort myself with the compost heap as the place to where all living things return when I have inadvertently killed a plant by not getting it set in the ground in a timely fashion.

I was looking for the "right" place to plant them, and then I spent the last few weeks in a "funk", so the poor little bulbs were neglected. I think they are crocuses. I did get my garlic bulbs planted, am anxiously awaiting their little sprouts.

Maury, I feel the same way about all the food I waste as a single person. Sometimes a whole pound of shrimp SEEMS like a good idea ...

I am intimately familiar with the strategy of trying to find the "right " place to plant something and then leaving it in a bag or a pot too long. The next step in my method is to plant it anywhere there appears to be space. I think this Spring I am going to refrain from buying more plants (famous last words) and get my jolllies from moving everything around instead........It'll never happen.

Lynn, I hope your funk has lifted and you are feeling the more joyful part of life soon.

This message was edited Jan 12, 2010 10:19 PM

Think of the shrimp as compost enrichment. It will enhance the health of your plants and make the garden spring forth this year.

I wonder whether the whole wool carpet that went in there will spring little runners ...

HOlly, I love the poems by your dad! What a man he must have been. I just don't know what 'keep to beep' means, though.

Sofer, don't you change a hair on your head! You are so my favorite kind of man. Manly, yet sensitive. How did you manage it? Yes, we must approach with love and not with condemnation. This is the best kind of witnessing there is, regardless of which religious practice one subscribes to, or even if one subscribes to none.

Portland, the gold dress was not even mine. It was a Goodwill find for my daughter's dress up trunk about 20 years ago. She used to wear it belted, dragging the floor, with a crown and magic wand, of course. What I really cannot believe is that I knew where it was! I haven't been in that part of the attic in at least 10 years.
Andrew did end up wearing regular shoes. I warned him that the slippers would be difficult to drive in and I didn't really support his wearing them to drive. Then he realized that they were just wool on the bottom - no rubber like Soferdig has- so his feet would get wet in them. He changed into regular loafers before he left.

Holly, I do have to chuckle at your admonishing yourself and deciding not to buy more plants. I, too, have been thinking I should just move stuff around. so much died in the 'big freeze' in November, shrubs I was really looking forward to this year like my Acacia pravissima, which, had it been established, would have been fine. Maybe it will come back from the roots, but I likely will have to wait at least another year for blooms. Makes me want to say really bad words.

I think I lost a lot of things that were sitting in their 4" nursery pots. Plus those 2 nights at 19 degrees might have taken out most of my fancy new sedums.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who had things still in 4" pots. I did get them covered. And I had some ferns in small pots under the rhodies and they did quite well.

Granddaughter and great grand son came to visit today. He loves my icicles!!! So they will stay for a while yet. Then it's supposed to rain and I won't put them away wet, so they'll stay some more. And if I have them up I may as well have them on....right. LOL

Lynn, your story on religion sounds a lot like my upbringing. And we came to the same conclusion. I have my beliefs, and don't push them on others. Sometimes wish others would do the same.

I often use my sons' old sandbox for a 'holding area' for new plants I don't yet know where to plant, and also for new starts I poach off my perennials as they come up each year. I just dig the babies into the sand and they are somewhat frost protected, get rain water (or are all in one spot for extra watering), and have very sharp drainage. If I think the plant may be there awhile, I sometimes cut the bottom out of the pot so the roots can roam free (easy to pull from the sand). Works well, and by summer when little toddlers are around to use the sandbox for it's original purpose, it is usually cleaned out.

The sandbox is on the west side of our wellhouse and dug directly into the ground with a 6" wood border. I add a couple bags of builders sand each year to renew it, and also use the sand to spread around plants susceptible to slug damage, to set stones, or any other sand use that comes to mind. It's morphed well into its dual-duty.

That's a good idea, bonehead. I have two nursery beds I use to heel things in if they are not in pots, but I have a good sized pot ghetto, too, and most of my lilies are in pots to protect them from voles. I lost some things that were marginally hardy, which I meant to put in the greenhouse and forgot. It's so irritating. They would have bloomed this year. I'm getting to where I don't want anything else that is not hardy to at least zone 7.

IMO, tolerance and respect are so important. No one should ever feel the need to apologize for their beliefs. After all, doesn't it all boil down to the same thing? Love your fellow man, lend a helping hand when you can, and try to leave this world a little better when you leave? To me, the particulars don't matter.

All religions adhere to a teaching. Christians are people who know they cannot do it right and rely on a "savior" Christ to clean up the failures. We though get a power from something called powerful/holy/God given "Spirit" that changes our thinking. Yet, we still fail and with time change with this spiritual help.
I having such vast cold here in Montana keep my plant purchases in the compost pile buried at least to 8" down up to 24" to keep the roots healthy until I get around to planting. Admittedily I usually plant any non woody plants before the end of November. This year though I have started a new way because sometimes the compost will freeze. I have a bunch of mouldy alfalfa that I have been composting for a year and it will be my storage for woody tenders. This is a non-freezing area that stays very warm.