Note to Self

"Hyacinths to Feed thy Soul"

If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

(Attributed to Gulistan of Moslih Eddin Saadi, some Mohammedan sheik who lived a really long time ago.)

A more practical sort might scoff at this idea, but I totally get it. We need beauty in our lives just as much as we need food and water. (Well, maybe not just as much, but pretty close.) Praise God for the beauty He has surrounded us with in nature! People's lives today stay on fast forward. No one has time to just be, to literally stop and smell the roses. We rush here, there, and everywhere and occasionally think about the lovely day, or the rainy day, or the cold or hot day. Our enjoyment of nature is stunted, limited to a mere consideration of the weather for practical purposes. If nothing else, step outside, or poke your head out of a window, and look up. Look at the blue of the sky, the clouds. Even if it's dreary out, notice the shades of gray in the sky. Have you ever thought about how lovely gray can be? The color gray gets a bum rap, I think. If you can't go outside, bring nature inside. Put some flowers in the window or on the table. Gather some interesting rocks or acorns in a bowl. Arrange some twigs in a lovely vase. Tie bows to the twigs! I'm getting a bit carried away.

My point is that I believe we all need to be reminded of the importance of purposefully incorporating beauty into our lives. Enjoying nature is one of the best ways I know to do just that. After all, God's canvas, His creation, sets the bar for all things beautiful.

Nuts!

This weekend we didn't go anywhere. No errands to do, nothing. On Saturday we spent a good chunk of the afternoon outdoors clearing a whole lot of junk out of our backyard. In actuality we just rearranged the junk, but it's much neater now. We did burn a lot of old, rotten wood that was piled up around my husband's workshop, stuff left from the previous home owner. We also finally moved the old shower stall and two toilets that were out there, also left from the previous owner. I'm so glad. The glaring white of the cast-off bathroom fixtures contrasted disturbingly with the woodland setting. So did the old tires. We moved those, too. It was a veritable junk yard back there. It was driving my husband crazy, but we had to wait until it got cold to do anything about it because here in Georgia a big pile of old wood, tires and toppled-over toilets are havens for snakes, spiders and scorpions. Not to mentions ticks that fall out of trees onto unsuspecting people. But all of those poisonous, blood-sucking, stinging things should be hibernating for the most part now so we were finally able to tackle the task of whittling down the junk pile that is our back yard.

It was while traipsing around rolling tires behind the shed and helping my husband move toilets that I made a thrilling discovery--a treasure trove of acorns! I didn't raid some squirrel's winter stash, but I did find scattered on the ground around the pile of old tires, lots and lots of big, fat, brown acorns, some with their little caps and others smoothly bald. I picked some of the best ones I could find and loaded both of my pockets. Why? For my woodland crafts projects, of course! Another idea I had was dusting them off and putting them in a little bowl on my coffee table so I could periodically scoop up a handful and admire their lovely, brown woodsyness. I also like the dry, clattering sound they make as I dump them back into the bowl. I enjoy pecans in much the same way.

I also discovered a lovely, pink mushroom which we tossed in the fire to see what would happen. I did tell my kids to move away from the fire and not inhale the smoke. I didn't want them to get high off of mushroom smoke or worse, poisoned.

Maybe next I'll find some beautiful pinecones. And twigs--nice, dry, snappy twigs.

In Praise of a Perfectly Lovely Day

Oh, the loveliness of today! Here in West Georgia we have had unseasonably cool weather the past couple of days, and it has been glorious. I love coolish weather. Autumn is my favorite season because of the crisp, breezy coolness it brings round about October/November. Yes, here in the South, fall comes a bit later. It's usually still rather warm in September.

But today! Today did not feel like July 1. I told my husband that I imagined this is what summer is like for those who live in the far North. "Um, sure," he said, disinterestedly while busily sketching plans for our new deck. I'm sure it gets hot up North, too, though minus all of the humidity we have here. How I loathe humidity.

First thing this morning, I took full advantage of the lovely weather and went for a walk, then picked some vegetables from the garden, weeded the flower bed and cut some flowers for an arrangement. After I came inside, I opened all of the windows so we could get a little cross ventilation going, arranged the flowers in a couple of little vases, and prepared the tomatoes for the freezer all while enjoying the gentle coolness of the breeze blowing through the kitchen window.

Doodlebug and Little Munchkin played with some air-drying clay, happily molding it into such things as flowers in little pots, animals, and other indistinguishable objets d'art.

Later, I stood outside in our wonderfully thick, lush grass while my husband muttered and puttered about measuring for the deck he plans to build which will greatly aid our al fresco dining capabilities. I would occasionally hold the measuring tape for him, but mostly I stood there soaking in the day.

Eventually, I found myself flat on my back in the freshly cut grass which smelled faintly and deliciously like watermelon. I hadn't fallen or anything. I purposefully lay down in the grass. I've dreamed for a long time of having thick, luxuriant grass in my yard and now I have it. Today was the perfect day for exulting in it which for me meant rolling around in it. So, I lay there while my husband measured and muttered, and I inhaled deeply the beauty of the day.

At one point while lying on my stomach, I imagined that if I stretched out my arms, I would kind of be giving the earth a big hug. That's just what an exceptionally lovely day will do to me--turn me into an earth-hugging nature nut. Now as I sit here typing while my girls drift off to sleep, I can hear the night song of the crickets, katydids, and frogs through the open window.

And I wonder how anyone can possibly believe the beautiful complexity and diversity of the world around us just evolved.

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." Psalm 19:1