Pearls of Wisdom

Today, a break in the weather, after all day yesterday and last night and this morning, rain, rain, rain. Rain. Yes, liquid sunshine--they joke about around here. But this afternoon, after a rainy cold morning, and a beach walk to see the extreme low tide, almost -4 with lots of purple starfish and a ton of eel grass, I went to the garden. The sun came out after all. I had on a pink top and pearls with my jeans, and shrugged, thinking what the heck, Carrie Bradshaw does it. Well, not the gardening, but the pearls with just lounging around clothes, so why not. No one looked at me sideways, in fact, I got a lot of smiles coming my way. And what is life for anyway, smiles and hugs and lots of good vegetables.

So I dug up a small area today. I have sore shoulders from all the previous digging and thought the strange pain in my armpit was going to command a mammogram, but alas, I figured it out. Shoveling. Yes, digging up the mint patch and the false buttercup and the plantain. When I was young, in my twenties, I read every survival book I could get my hands on. Mint and plantain are good greens to eat. Those and rose hips and rose flowers and new fir sprouts would become part of the survivalists diet. There could be mushrooms and salal berries and blackberries, but I digress, my motive at the time, living off the land. And not a bad idea now. I did it on the mini-farm in the 70s. In the 80s I didn't do so well--but still kept small gardens. Always tomatoes, my first and foremost favorite plant, I have been growing every year, practically since I was in grade school.

So I have two tomato plants in my garden. I'm thinking another might be nice. I have a nice picture of anther community gardeners plot, where the tomatoes were started in the cold frame. I've grown lettuce and radishes and cukes and zucchini in the cold frame, but never tomatoes. What a great idea. It's easy to build a cold frame, just build a bottomless box and if you have an old window from the recycling store, set it on top, or a dome from a sky light. Fab. If I can do it, you can.

So back to pearls. I found two in the oyster I ate with a new friend after a lovely walk on Mother's day. I thought that was a good sign. What do you think? We also saw about 12 eagles. Or was it 10? Another good sign.

An eagle flew over the garden the other day. I pointed it out to my grandbaby who was watering his pant leg with the watering can. He looked at the sky and said bird. Good enough.
Well anyway, have at the garden, rain or shine--it'll make you feel fine.