WITHOUT NURSES OR CLOCKS

24 of #100daychallenge

Reading on glasses on. Aaah, much better.

Between 10:30 and 11:15 ends up the time I can finally sit down to write. I hope I can change this, but that's the current rhythm. I woke early this morning, before 6:30, and decided to stumble out of bed instead of digging in for another hour or so. After a cup of coffee and some head-shaking, I ventured out to the garden to see if I could make progress on the great weed pull.

Shelly and I had cleaned out this bed in what seems like not-so-long ago. I get very ambitious and want to have beds of ranunculus and freesia and hollyhocks and foxglove and dahlias and giant phlox. Many of the aforementioned are bulbs, and I have yet to have much success there. Most of the tulips and daffodils that we planted came up and they were glorious but short-lived.I must wrap my head around the fact that bulbs are a bit of a different animal and that growing them successfully will either take time or not ever really happen. Bulbs take care and planning in a way that many other of my plant friends do not. Once you get going on nasturtiums, verbena, roses, dianthus, and cosmos, you don't have to do too much. Even remembering where you planted the damn bulbs is a challenge. Even when I put markers, somehow they don't stay. And now I have rose rust on one of my plants. The horror! Got to get on that tomorrow so I doesn't spread.

The cherry tree shows signs of coming into its first significant flowering. I don't care if I ever get any fruit, I just want those beautiful flowers. If I do get fruit, I will probably need the cats to keep an eye on the birds. The bird are already coming for the boysenberries, but the cats are not interested. Boysenberries are in the backyard and the cats like the front yard. More danger, dontcha know. 

Yoga was interesting today. I cribbed from my. teachers Teri Ann and Heidi, but it has been so long since I practiced with them, I can't remember it all. I went around a couple of time to do simple adjustments on them and their minds were blown. This is thoroughly endearing as I can well remember rushing up to a teacher to share my excitement about utilizing a heretofore unknown muscle. Two of them are diabetic and I so worry about their feet. No way I can get them onto the floor to elevate their feet, but we did do some foot things today that they loved.

And that's pretty much how the day went: coffee, gardening, yoga, nap, gardening, dishes, writing. The nap was sweet, once I could actually FALL asleep as Idrisse and McCoy were of a mind to join me.

FROM THE GARDEN

Come, my beloved,

consider the lilies.

We are of little faith.

We talk too much.

Put your mouthful of words away

and come with me to watch

the lilies open in such a field,

growing their like yachts,

slowly steering their petals

without nurses or clocks.

Let us consider the view:

a house where white clouds

decorate the muddy halls.

Oh, put away your good words

and your bad words. Spit out

your words like stones!

Come here! Come here!

Come eat my pleasant fruits.

— Anne Sexton, To Bedlam and Part Way Back, Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1960