"The Time Has Come the Walrus Said....

To speak of many things.... of shoes and ships, and sealing wax; of cabbages and kings." Don't know much about any of them, but it's also time to talk about a focus for this blog.

In March when I awoke to the most gorgeous snow of a decade, I was moved to write about it. Enjoying that, I decided it was time to try my hand at writing a bit. I enjoy writing, but most of my work is business-related and I wanted to give creative writing a try. I had in mind to do some essays or criticism or something else creative.

The blog seemed like the perfect way to start. I know there are a couple of you "out there" who read my efforts now and then (one tells me she looks nearly daily, and I thank you very much!), but mostly I know that only I go to the garden bench at all. I thoroughly enjoy working on my blog, but recently I find that nothing piques my curiosity and I have no real inspiration. After much thought, I realize that it's because I have no focus. I read many other blogs - mostly by other women - and enjoy many of them regularly. But I see that most of them do have a focus. If you haven't already done so, you should look at Drawing In, Charlene's Balance Beam and The Money Pit.

Ms. Carolyn Bender (Drawing In) actually got me into this. I have followed her blog for several years and she does the kind of interesting essays that I desire to do, but she either spends way more time on the Internet sniffing out ideas, or she is way more creative than I. [I suspect both are true.] I have also found a number of good gardening blogs that I enjoy, and some others that specialize in music or women's issues that interest me from time to time, but nothing has given me any inspiration for mine.

I enjoyed writing about our trip this summer, but that was sheer personal indulgence. I considered writing about Michelle Obama, whom I find endlessly interesting, but decided that: a) it would be hard to find something new to say at least weekly, and b) it would be too much like stalking! Someone already has a blog about Brian Williams' daily choice of necktie, and I just don't really have an interest in cupcakes.

What does interest me - way more often - is my garden blog. Gardening is one of two or three things that I really enjoy doing, and I know enough about it to share. The garden changes endlessly, giving me something to observe and ... write about. So, while I reserve the right to return to the garden bench now and then when something does interest me, or I have an opinion that I want to share, but for a while I think I will concentrate on sharing the garden with you.

I have picked the worst possible time of year, with everything dying back, but I have some ideas for a series of "how to's" and I think I will commit for now to writing at least weekly - rather than more often and we'll see how it goes. So, I hope you will follow me out into the backyard and help me get my hands dirty!

Thanks for being there the past eight months.

Nov. 2nd - Happy Birthday, Garland!

A belated, but happy, birthday to Garland - the last of my Wise Women. It was she who encouraged me to keep my hands in the dirt until I realized that gardening is in the blood, not in the head. She taught me about native plants, and the white plants which she loves. She tolerated my flaming pinks, as she encouraged me to design with color.

When we sold our house - and garden - out from under ourselves, she sheltered and nurtured my perennials as I spirited them out of the garden before we closed the sale and the new owners took over. Everywhere you look in my garden are pass-along plants from hers, like the sedum 'Angelina' that are a firey gold even today. When she moved to North Carolina she left behind enough of her garden that I can feel like she is here with me every day.

At work she helped me to stop assuming the worst of everyone. I will not claim to have learned to assume the best, as she does, but at least she prodded me along the continuum. She helped me with patience and taught me how important packaging is - in life.

We shared books and altho our taste is rather different, she introduced me to Diana Gobaldon and together we devoured her stories of Jamie Fraser. She taught me that if I buy a new jacket every season, I can get away with my old clothes for one more year. And, that short hair is best for some women of a certain age. But the biggest gift was the gift of her friendship.

I miss her almost daily, but have only to sit for a few minutes to know that some of the wisdom in my life comes from Garland. Now, if only she had taught me timeliness!

Try a Little TLC??

The Post Office has started selling Hallmark cards as a way to increase their revenue. Perhaps a better idea would be.... decent customer service.

For the past year, I have made several trips per week to the local post office. It's amazing how for the past 15 years I counted on the nice route carrier picking up our mail every afternoon, or on someone else carrying it to the nearest drop box! Now that I am the sole user of mailing services, that little job has fallen to me again.

I discovered in the first two weeks that I did not want to go to the window. I don't know if the clerks are "working to the rule" of if they are just incredibly slow, but the worst customer service in town is at the postal window. I have been in there on afternoons when there are more than 10 people standing in line and only one clerk - with no apparent plans for calling someone to the front to clear out the back up.

Many moons ago I switched to using the Automatic Postal Center machine. I can purchase stamps and mail large envelopes in literally seconds and be out of the post office, in less time than the clerk could wait on one person.

There is a down side to the machines if you just want a stamp. The machines only sell sheets of stamps and one must use a credit or debit card, but doing it yourself is definitely faster and you don't have to deal with a rude clerk. All of the PO's in our area have replaced their older style stamp machines with the APC's, so I may never again see a clerk.

Wonder if I can pay for my Hallmark card at the machine?

Two Hair Cuts until Christmas

As I scheduled my next hair cut last week, Nancy asked if I wanted to schedule the following one, too, "since my time will fill up fast before Christmas". A good idea I thought, so I did and then it occurred to me that what we were saying was that it's only two hair cuts until Christmas!

Where has this year gone? I know that time seems to move much faster when we are adults than when we were children, but does its pace continue to pick up forever, until we are just spinning thru the year? Does it eventually go so fast that we don't even notice what happens during the year? I hope not.

This past year has gone quickly - but I think for understandable reasons. The first and biggest is the new job, of course. Being the whale in the fish pond with jolly few fish, I have done a lot of things that would have been delegated to others when I worked in the larger pond (and was only a tuna). It's been fun to get to go out and be with the clients. I learned to take blood pressure and spent many days among the fire fighters in the spring. More recently I was part of a three-person team that bubbled in 78,461 little red circles on scan sheets for a three-week long medical screening marathon. Important to the final outcome, but soul numbing work. I was happy when those three weeks ended!

Then this weekend I attended an event guaranteed to bring home the fleeting nature of time: the college reunion. About two-thirds of my sorority sisters were there, representing the widest possible range of accomplishments and situations - two lawyers and the judge, the teacher, the real estate tycoon, the county administrator, the business owner, the business manager and five retirees. The well and the not-so-well; the slender and the not-so-slender; those who had only changed a little and those who had changed a lot - but none of that mattered.

From California, from Indiana, from New England and New Jersey, and from many places in Virginia we came to touch base with that which unites us. We ate together and then all trouped to the kitchen to help clean up and put away, just as we did together 40 years ago. We partied til the cows came home and danced to all our favorite music and then headed back to our homes and normal lives, but each enriched a bit by having spent time with those closest of friends who had known each other since we made that transition from girl to woman. It was a great reminder of how far we have come, but how much we are still the same ... as 40 years ago. It was a strong reminder that many days have passed and that there are fewer left to come.

I really don't want the rest of my life to be wished away filling in bubbles. I want to enjoy it. I want to savor the days. I want to find ways to look at the leaves as well as smelling the roses.... or more likely, the garden phlox.

I'm thinking some goals are in order:

1) Spend more time with Mitchell.
2) Spend more time on the porch - like eating lunch, or a late afternoon sip of something.
3) Stay in closer touch with friends.
4) Find a focus for this blog.

I still want to write, but am not sure that this daily memoir is what I want to do. Originally my thought was to comment on the world as I see it passing by "from my garden bench". That has not happened. Recently, it has become more of a diary, and less a commentary. I need help moving away from the confines of my life and toward the world outside of me. That may be why I haven't written anything in weeks. I'm bored with my own blog!

So, what I want for Christmas - which is only two haircuts away, after all - is a focus. Any ideas out there?