Planting a Pumpkin

      It was the first year of our school garden and one of our goals was to get every student into the garden to have the experience of planting something. We had all kinds of interesting seeds to sow.  Pumpkins and watermelons were the favorites of most of the students. One of our school's most successful students told me directly, "This is not my destiny!"  
       Is the idea of working with the soil or working manually beneath us in this day and age? Is the idea of starting at the bottom as old fashioned, as I am?  Is there a reason to learn a business from the ground up?  Is there a reason to learn how to work with your hands or at a seemingly low level at least for some period of time? Is being a "worker" for the less intelligent only?
       One summer, I had the opportunity to clean houses for money.  It was an invaluable experience, because of what I learned. It helped me see how people can be treated if they are considered to be lower than others.  It taught me the value of doing a careful, thorough job and the satisfaction we can gain from  working hard physically. It helped me understand how people organize their homes, lives and how they see others.
       Christ taught us that the greatest among us would be  a servant of all. Christ was not just talking about "starting at the bottom".  He was talking about a way of life and what true leadership would be like. How can we be a wise leaders if we cannot understand what it is like to be at the bottom? At Passover, Christ asks us how can we truly be humble unless we have "washed some one's feet"?
       There are a lot reasons to start at the bottom in any field, but when it comes to farming or gardening, there is so much to be learned and experienced.  Besides the understandings and joy found in the work itself, the reliance on God and the wonder at His creation are essential to the planting,watering, cultivating, and pruning process. (How could anyone who works in a garden be an atheist?)
       My son started a new job doing the thankless job of door to door, commission-only sales.  Of course, this is not my dream for a soon-to-be college graduate, but I know that this experience, like many other things he will do in is life, will teach him the view from the "bottom" and give him more understanding and perspective of how life works.
       Don't we all love Cinderella stories?  The hard-working oppressed young lady with outer and inner beauty was finally recognized by Prince Charming and eventually lived happily ever after.  She never lost her humility and understanding, because she started at the bottom and learned from her experiences.
       If we do not see gardening, cleaning a house, working manually, selling door to door, flipping burgers, "washing feet", serving others or getting dirty, as our "destiny"; perhaps, we just need to get in the garden and plant a pumpkin seed. We can sow it, water it, tend it and watch it. Perhaps, we can stop to reflect on the process, as well.  A pumpkin vine can grow as much as six inches in a single day. ( Everything we do in life should should help us grow!)
       When the pumpkin is ripe and ready, pluck it from the vine and watch it turn into our carriage that will take us to our destiny!  One healthy pumpkin vine may produce 10 to 15 beautiful pumpkins.  If we learn our lessons well at the bottom, we may be given many exciting other choices in life: carriages that will take us to our destiny! (Planting pumpkin may be more than a means to an end: it may be an end in itself.)
       Cinderella, plant a pumpkin and your carriage will await you!  
                                   
 

     

Rebooting

      Our anniversary weekend was just like rebooting a computer.  We could have stayed home.  We would have been alone there, too; but instead, we left our familiar surroundings and together we went somewhere new. Though only two hours away, it was new to us.  The gorgeous, Georgian Manor Inn, a bed and breakfast in Norwalk, Ohio was the most elegant of surroundings.  When we arrived the housekeeper greeted us and showed us around.  The only thing familiar was the person I was with and the clothes in our suitcase.  The town, the home, the furnishings, the sights and the stories were all new.
      That evening after dinner at a local restaurant, we drove to a lovely concert hall in Sandusky, Ohio to hear a world renown mezzo-soprano singing with the Firelands Symphony "Love Songs Through the Ages".  The next day after a superb breakfast and conversation with the innkeepers, we went to the home and museum of Rutherford B. Hayes for a tour and stimulating conversation.  We explored some antique shops and again had dinner at another local restaurant.  We were being inspired!
      The drives we were making to our various destinations gave us a look at Northern Ohio snow.  Not that the snow there is any different than in Central, Ohio; but snow-covered fields and small towns look different that a snow-covered city.  They just do!  Snow always reminds me of a clean slate and that is precisely my point!
     The computer is the same when you reboot it or restart it.  It always is amazing how rebooting works!  Somehow the computer that was slow and inefficient begins to work again and I, for one,do not understand why. Erasing a slate or white board does not mean throwing away the chalk or markers or the board itself. A clean slate makes it possible for the board to be useful once more.  Snow falling on the ground does not change the ground, but seems to give the world a fresh, pure look and does some wonderful things for the future productivity of the land. Going away for a few days together can be renewing for a marriage, family or friendship!  It is like rebooting the computer, erasing the board or covering the ground with snow. Rebooting is simply refreshing, to make fresh once more!
    "If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one of them and buy White Hyacinths to feed my soul."
- Elbert Hubbard  (1856-1915)

                                                                   

Looking Backward

     I consider myself to be forward thinking and I hate to look backward.  It seems to be so counterproductive to a focused, positive and joyful life.  I have known people who used the past as an important player in the games of regret and blame. Why would a forward thinking person looking for joy ever want to look toward the past?
     It has been said that those who do not remember the past (history) are condemned to repeat it. Something that is broken needs to be fixed and someone offended needs to forgive.  Yet how can we do that without drowning in remorse?
     Reflection and meditation are powerful tools to make improvements in life.  What did I do right and what did I do wrong?  How can I make a situation better and find success?
     Today is our twenty-eighth anniversary.  It was a sunny, snowy Saturday in February very much like today that we made those vows to love and honor. I was lying on my bed basking in the sunshine today, when my son came it to talk.  I started telling him about our wedding day.  I told him about the beauty of the day, the details of the story, our hopes and our expectations for out lives.   Somehow it was like pushing the reset button or rebooting (not rebutting) a computer. In revisiting the expectations, I found myself feeling very hopeful and full of joy. Anniversaries, holy days, holidays are like that. We remember the past to reset and  reboot  (not rebut).  Looking back reminds us of who we are and how we can find a joyful future in refocusing.

The Stainless Trough

        This is not a totally joyous subject for me to write about.  I have been taught that wasting food was wrong and cleaning up your plate is a virtue.  I guess no one wanted food scraps in the trash or we thought it was terrible to throw away food when there were starving people in Africa. It is too bad we cannot deliver our extra food somewhere.

        Weight Watchers worked on me and helped me realize that throwing away food could be a good thing. (Of course, choosing smaller portions is the best plan.) Then, there was the strong idea that some of the food that we were not eating was not “food” any way!

        My dad used to light up when he would talk about an “all you can eat” buffet.  Many people I can recall, as far back as the 1960’s, used to consider these dining establishments the pinnacle of pleasure.  I am certain that those who grew up in the Depression would find them an expression of the affluent life.

        I tread lightly.  Now, it is November, 2013 and times have changed.  Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and we as a nation have so much for which to be thankful.  I have never been truly hungry and I just bought a 25 pound turkey for Thanksgiving.

        Last Saturday night, my husband wanted to take me out for dinner.  Now, honestly, I usually pick.  It is not that I always want my way, but that he never has an opinion. I pick the restaurant by default; unless we are with friends and can get someone else to choose.  On this particular night, however, he had a strong opinion and I, biting my tongue, agreed.

        He chose an “all you can eat” buffet of national fame.  It was recently in the papers for hiding food from food inspection.  The initials are G.C. (I have often wondered why it was considered to be “golden” and why people would want to eat at a place where horses were corralled.)   My name for it is Stainless Trough.

        I was hoping that we might have to leave, because there were not many parking spaces. We finally found one, so in we went. It was very crowded that night. 

        You get a tray, if any are available, and silverware, if the pieces you need are available.  You get a drink, if you want one, and pay before you enter.  There are few seasonal decorations, but the most overwhelming sight is people.  People of all shapes and sizes, who were clamoring for plates and getting in lines in six or seven areas for various parts and pieces of a meal, were the overriding view on this occasion. A meal of epic proportions one can eat here; yes, it is an “all you can eat” buffet.

        We were looking very hard to find seats and the only seats to be found were in the furthest corner from the food.  You actually had to walk further to get from our seats to the troughs than any other seats in the establishment. No wonder no one else wanted them.

        The salad bar, taco bar, pizza bar, dessert bar, ice cream bar and hot food bar were totally surrounded by people dipping in all that food.  There were utensils to dip food, but the children and some adults did not see the need to use such items; fingers are easier and faster. I can imagine Melvin Udall, Jack Nicholson’s OCD character in As Good As It Gets, at this place.

         The most popular area was the place for the steak. The steak was cooked to order and bore a label as to how it was prepared.  I can also imagine how some people I know would find it incredible that for $12.99 you can get all the sirloin steak you wanted and all those other meats and fish, too.

         Tread lightly…It must be terribly hard to keep a place clean with all those hungry people.  Tread lightly…I actually had to tread very lightly and watch where I was going, because of the children underfoot and plops of mashed potatoes and pieces of chicken skin on the carpet. There were stacks of used dished and utensils and plates on every table waiting to be picked up. The stainless steel rolling carts holding just washed dishes and silverware were everywhere, but you had to be careful, because some of the melamine dishes just did not look like they had made it through the dishwasher.

         I never liked to go to buffets, because I thought I ate too much and I just did not like to see all that food sitting out there for who knows how long.  I just prefer not to see it all laid out like that. Cleanliness is another issue.  When restaurant food comes out, served to you at a traditional restaurant; some how you have the illusion of cleanliness and freshness, even if not the reality.  On this night, I ate very little.

        My husband had three steaks, lots of mashed potatoes and gravy, all kinds of other items and several dishes of ice cream.  Before we walked out, he left the older woman, who fastidiously, refilled our drinks, a generous tip; then he walked to the ice cream area and got himself an ice cream cone for the road.

        On our way out, he remarked that it was pretty “bad” and “when you have that many people, it is hard to keep it clean”; but he seemed pretty content to me.  My mom used to say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.  (I will write more about that later. Not that I am an expert on men, or anything…)  Tread lightly…

        As for me, an old Danish proverb says it best, “When serving food, first put out the flowers, then putout the food."

          

                                                                                   

 

Joy Found Me!

     After a little more than a year of blogging, I just stopped.  Thinking that I had nothing more to say about finding joy in life, being too busy or being distracted; my motivation ended.  I did not want to stop: I just did.  "A Small Patch of Flowers" is  a blog about finding joy in life. Finding joy is not something that can be manufactured. It has to come from the heart. It is a terribly important subject in my mind and I did not want my posts to be trivial.  Today joy found me.
     Six and a half years ago, I was in a terrible accident when I fell off of a ladder trying to pull some vines off of my mother's old house.  It was a stupid thing to do.  My tugging and pulling caused the electrical wires to break, a transformer popped and I fell to avoid electrocution.  Six pins, a steel plate and a bone graft later, I had to learn to walk all over again.  A walker, wheel chair, crutches, cane, raised toilet seat, shower seat and wooden ramp became a part of my life. 
     Recovery was slow, but eventually I could walk normally.  It still takes a lot of mental concentration to go up and down steps, if I want to look natural.  That skill is definitely not easy even now.
     Exercise, especially walking, has been very important to me for weight control  and overall good health.   I have been very sporadic about it this past year, however.  Running is something I would repeatedly try, but could never do at all without tremendous stress to my injured leg. 
     I often visualize running.  Remembering what it was like to move quickly through space with arms and legs in a rhythmic movement.  The feeling of running and taking in the fresh air on a beautiful day were experiences  I wondered if I would ever enjoy again in this life time. (Who else dreams of running?)
     When I went to the basement this morning for a little walking exercise, I tried running as I usually do.  I was not expecting anything other than the usual awkward "hop-step".  I did not earn it, train for it or even deserve it, but today it happened.  I could run!   The feeling was absolutely amazing even though I was not outside.  I ran smoothly.  Yes, I did!
     "Okay", I asked myself, "Am I dreaming?"  I raced upstairs, woke up my sleeping husband and asked him to watch me run. I asked him if I looked normal and if I limped when I ran.  When my witness said that it looked normal and without a limp, I could not contain the joy. (Of course normal is a relative term.)
      I am so thankful.   (I remind you, too, don't give up on your dreams!)  Joy found me!

Christian Nation

      Christian Nation…the political ad stated that Barack Obama said in the Middle East that we are not a Christian nation.  The statement was considered offensive by the ad makers and to hear it spoken sounded very harsh and ugly. I thought:"How could he say this boldly in a foreign land?"  Then, I asked myself: "Is it true?  Are we a Christian nation?"

      A Christian is a follower of Christ or “one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ” (Merriam-Webster).  Would there be any doubt in a Christian nation whether the Ten Commandments could be posted?  Would there be any doubt in a Christian nation whether there could be prayer in any public school, building or venue?  Would there be any doubt whether the Bible could be freely taught or discussed?  Would there be any doubt whether abortion was acceptable? Would there be any doubt whether we could say “In God We Trust”?  I could go on and on.  Barack Obama is right. We are not a Christian nation. We do have many Christians who live here and have a glorious hope.

       Our hope is that someday we will be a Christian nation and all other nations will be Christian nations.  Until then, those who are Christian should let their lights shine in this very dark world. “.. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. ...”Matthew 5:16

 Quotes by Barak Obama                            

"One of the great strengths of the United States is... we have a very large Christian population - we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."  
 "Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."

 

Black Swallow Butterfly

Black Swallow Butterfly

       Willow sent me this story.  It is certainly about joy.  “I thought this would be nice for your blog. While we were in Ohio, 6 caterpillars ate all the parsley in our garden. Lee was ready to squish them, but I said, ‘Let's wait & see what they turn into.’ We saw 6 butterflies come out of their chrysalises.”