Thoughts From the Garden

Over the past few days, I had the opportunity to spend a little time gardening, which is an activity I used to indulge in on a regular basis, years ago. This garden area was not large but had quite a few weeds that had taken up residence over the past weeks. Recent heavy rains had washed out some seeds and seedling plants but many tomato and pepper plants had survived. All that was needed was the removal of the weeds, a little working up of the soil and the fledgling plants would be able to thrive.

During the first weeding session I had some very pleasant company and conversation as two grandmas weeded together. We laughed, groaned a little and lamented that we didn't get up from a kneeling position as quickly as we once did. We attacked the weeds with fervor, enthusiasm and quite a bit of energy, considering the heat and humidity. Of the three descriptors, two remained and one ebbed.....just a bit. I'll leave it to the reader's imagination as to which one of the three disappeared faster than the others.

The next weeding session found my co-grandma busy inside helping out and I headed outside, determined to make a further dent in the weed population. I intended to only weed a short while but with the removal of each weed, I became possessed to eradicate all weeds from the face of the earth and became a weeding fiend. If the weed couldn't be pulled by hand then I chopped and chopped with a hoe-like instrument. Soon I discovered that hoeing and chopping at the hard earth was very therapeutic and I would chop with more determination. Even after I left the garden area, I could not walk past a weed anywhere on the property without bending over to pluck it from the ground.

Now, if you know anything about weeding and gardening, you will be aware that you spend a lot of time on your knees or possibly bending over at the waist for extended periods of time. Because it had been years since I had done any substantive gardening, my body was not quite used to the positions that I coaxed and cajoled it into. All I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, I was quite proud of myself outside doing all those contortion moves......and at my age!

What I did discover is that there are muscles hidden deep within the body. Muscles that I have never heard of, cannot possibly pronounce, and never realized that my skeleton even had these muscles attached to it.

Here are some other points of self-discovery that came while in the garden:

• I really enjoy weed removal.
  
• Removing weeds from the ground is symbolic for removing weeds from life.
• Whacking the ground with a hoe is fun.
• You should keep your toes a safe distance from the hoe.
• Flies bite through cloth.
• When you bend over most of the time there is one large part of the body readily available for flies to bite.
  
• Some spiders jump.
• Other spiders get in your hair.
• Ants crawl anywhere they like.
  
• Flannel works best for wiping sweat from your eyes.
• Grandsons like to spray grandmas with the hose.
• Grandmas like to be sprayed with the hose by their grandsons.
  

I think Henry David Thoreau would be inspired by my garden-inspirations, don't you?

Ancora imparo