WHAT WE CAN'T SEE COMING, GOING

Friday, 17 avril

I slept a lot today. The thing is, I am sleepy, deeply and deliciously, in a way I thought I might not sleep again. In a world with too few pleasures, that one of relaxation and indulgence is difficult to turn away. After all, it costs nothing out of pocket, does not no harm, and has no calories. What is not to love?

After the nap, I did a couple of hours of mostly digging and destroying the roots of the grasses that were once a lawn. Most of the plants I had bought a week or two ago are in the ground. I did not do a great job of organizing the colors and the textures, but perhaps it is enough that I am establishing a new bed. I did get the two hollyhock bulbs planted and marked. I won’t be seeing any signs from them for a good long time.

In the evening, the neighbor grandma and her great grand-daughter Kaylani go for an evening stroll. Kaylani has just learned to pedal herself on tricycle thingy. She knows my name now and greets me whenever they pass. She is fascinated with the kitties. She couldn’t understand why Oona was insistent about digging in the dirt. Frankly, I am surprised at her affinity for being filthy myself. Emmylou, the neighborhood greeting cat, rubbed up against Kaylani and grandma. Anything for head scratches or water. 

Now cleaned after a nice soak, I am headed into the kitchen to try to do some cooking. I just heard the oven timer tell me that we had reached “speed”. Oona is sticking close to me and would prefer that I just chill for the evening, but I am hopeful I will bake something.

Flowering sage.

Aretha made the gardening all that more pleasurable and I wanted to blast it down the street and have a dance party. Have you heard Aretha's cover of Border Song? I love her arrangement. She turns it straight gospel. "I have been deceived." Indeed.

BORDER SONG

Holy Moses I have been removed
I have seen the spectre he has been here too
Distant cousin from down the line
Brand of people who ain't my kind
Holy Moses I have been removed

Holy Moses I have been deceived

Now the wind has changed direction and I'll have to leave
Won't you please excuse my frankness but it's not my cup of tea

Holy Moses I have been deceived

I'm going back to the border
Where my affairs, my affairs ain't abused
I can't take any more bad water
Been poisoned from my head down to my shoes

Holy Moses I have been deceived
Holy Moses let us live in peace
Let us strive to find a way to make all hatred cease
There's a man over there
What's his colour I don't care
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace

— Bernie Taupin and Elton John

And here's some Aretha and Duane Allman funking out with The Weight.

On to the 18th ... grooving on more Aretha as the lemon-lavender curd shortbread bakes. I thought to take a treat to teacher training today. SW's husband does amazing things for us sometimes. Hard to choose my favorite between chocolate covered strawberries and apple pear pie. I rarely make things from mixes so we will have to see how this turns out. I also made a quiche last night while drinking white wine and chatstorming with a similiarly tipsy Melinda. And the kitchen floor finally got cleaned. Now, who knows what is possible?

My mom can barely stand Aretha. She frequently asks me to turn it down. She hates my favorite singer. Well, at least she is okay with Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Ry Cooder, and Richard Thompson. Aretha is the one who cheers and engages me the most. I think it is her piano playing that nabs me. I always wished for an Aretha solo on piano recording, but that's not going to happen. I will have to play it in my head.

Evidently, there is another storm headed our way.  I hope it is not too cold out there on the rainwater pond today. I would just as soon curl up again today. Maybe a nap after YTT? My mom is sleeping too much. I need to focus on her. Hell, there are several things I need to get down and get funky with, for instance my yoga practice and teacher training. 

My newly installed plants will like more rain. I have more freesia and ranunculus bulbs to try to get into the ground as well as black-eyed susans (rudebeckia) and more aquiligea (columbine). The colors really cheer me up in a relatively colorless neighborhood. Not a neighborhood of gardeners although a few do a good job. When I get the bike back, I will maybe document a few good ones and some other absurdities of the area. 

On the other hand, am I reverting to possibilities and not "sticking to my knitting"?

COMING AND GOING

There is a
recently discovered 
order, neither
sponges nor fishes
which is never
at the mercy
of conditions.
If currents shift,
these fleshy zeppelins
can reverse directions
from inside—
their guts are
so easily modified.
Coming versus going
is therefore
not the crisis
it is for people,
who have to scramble
to keep anything
from showing
when we see
what we can't see
coming, going.

— Kay Ryan, The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, New York, Grove Press, 2010