Endless Precipitation

Yowza! The third (and last) section of the lawn that I seeded is coming up! It’s weird and wonderful to be so excited about grass growing.

But I’m a broken man. My breakdown has left me incredibly vulnerable to stress—and stress for me is almost everything. When friends come, I can’t speak for a while because even something as simple as their arrival is a form of stress to me. So this place, this silent place where nature is so present, is my sanctuary. And now a huge part of it that was really ugly to my eye is a park-like source of tranquility. That’s why I go on and on about it. It calms me and enriches me to see beauty where once I only say neglect. 

I scattered Queen Anne’s Lace seeds in the Fern Garden, too, yesterday to add colour and fragility against the rugged permanence of the Ferns. I collected the seeds on my walks this summer. This solitary life with pets is very quiet. Little happens, so the new yard is transformative for me. 

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I cleaned and tidied the shed, yesterday and seeded the last bit of new soil in the backyard that lay unfinished. And people would have been amused if they could have seen me trying to remove al the windfall from the new lawns. I don’t want to walk on the grass yet, so I was part of a ballet of long sticks and a rake yesterday. And then the showers returned and I retreated to the chaise longue fireside.

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I started looking at my lesson plans from when I taught a zillion workshops on visual art professional practices. It felt like looking at close ups of a past root canal. But if I can re-work them to suit my current thinking and the population here, I have a good chance of recovering the full cost of my landscaping. It’s very tempting.

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It rained last night. It’s dark and wet out there this morning but it currently ain’t rainin’. This has been a very, very wet September. 

I’m going on the small dog walk this morning and I only have modest goals for the day. I plan to do some transplanting and some yard work but much of the day will be indoors if the weather stays as it is. At least I don’t have to water the new lawns; I’ve not had to do that once since I planted them.