i should have been here yesterday, but i just couldn't quite gather all my thoughts together. plus i was out of the office in franklin on friday, needed to catch up with the paper trails, post.its and social piles leftover from last week. i needed this past weekend like any plant needs water. the sun was hot, the wind cool, and the company a pleasure. i had been so exhausted, but i couldn't miss a saturday with jen, nor an opportunity to see all of her hard work, and the work of other local artists. the feelings i had while sitting with lavendar, jen and susan are unexplainable. i have been trying to think of way to eloquently express the way, as if a spirit moves between us, our words, and movements. i love how conversation came easily and the white church tent went up without a hitch. i love how kate was there in spirit and all our friends and jen's family came by to see her. can i see myself with my own work at one bridge next year? umm maybe. for now i'm most definitely more interested in farming this sort of good life.
i started reading wendell berry's, the gift of the good earth, hence my post-title, a week ago or so. boy oh boy it is has been one of the best things i've read in, wow! sometime. i had just finished the kiterunner, which received public accolades, but i wasn't well impressed. before that, dan brown's angels and demons-not that impressed. but the gift of the good earth, my word. written in the mid-late 70's, his travels from peru to papago to mexico to the amish country. what brillant imagery, what food for thought, so spirited and comfort-gentle. and we're here as he has predicted, not exactly predicted but shows by example, and expresses as stupidity, these last twenty years.
i'm not scared, just wondering about becoming a farmer. or at least farming my relationships in a different way. sometimes i think i let my emotions, fears, and insecurities rain on relationships in a way that washes away the deep dark, warm and moist topsoil-the stuff that makes relationships rich and wealthy. it so happens expensive fertilizers get in the way, when simply turning the friendships over to expose only that which needs to be cooled by the air-like a confrontation, a fresh approach, is sufficient and healthier. and certain weeds, if i knew how to look for them, might actually be advantageous, the natural way i'd be led to fertilize, instead of my self made contributions. i love what this book is making me feel and think. i love how it has tied itself into the conversations i've had with say, kate and my dear mother. and jen she sent me flowers, which i have yet to photograph because i am pleased to say i'm cleaning up my apartment's act. it's been four whole years and some things have got to go. so i am working on the revitalization of my apt life. i want a near perfect shot of the bright flower display, cross your fingers, tomorrow(?) and i should have a pic of the complete robot-red paper quilt collage. i should write more about these things but diagnosis coding is really really calling my name.
gosh i'm grateful for such a sweet weekend.