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98

somewhere toward late day i thought that i had Nothing to "show" for this day.  all too fragmented and unremarkable.  but then, i downloaded the camera.

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i figured out where the "center" was.   since NOTHING is straight or even,  how do we know where to begin?  so i figured it out.   and as you can see,  i couldn't bear the shiny stuff.  i put it on FreeCycle here in town and the person who responded to wanting it turns out to be the president of the Socorro County Fiber Arts Guild.  she is nice.  they meet every second saturday of the month.

anyway…this is better.  it's called Indio Slate.  so this.

and i cleaned.  i don't do that a lot.  not that i don't like it when it's all spiffy, but when i look at the priorities, cleaning under and behind the futon couch drops down.  but i did.  and i found stuff from when Julian was here, that was last August.  his  "special telescope",  a wooden block with the letter J,  his flashlight that we looked all over for.  and this

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he was very interested in it.  a piece of Abalone that i found in a box of stuff at a garage sale maybe 30 years ago in Ann Arbor.  he studied it long and said,  " is this You?, Old Nana?"  i said yes it was.

anyway, there it was down in a crack behind the couch with the telescope flashlight and wooden J.

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some stuff that can GO.

and finally,  i brought some scrap feed to use as mulch on the cucumbers.  they have been wilting at the end of the days.  it's been 90.  going to be 100 next week.  we'll see how scrap feed works.

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F

and next to the cucumbers, the Purple de Milpa Tomatillos.  i won the blue ribbon at our county fair for my Purple de Milpa Tomatillos a few years ago.  i was tempted to hunt that ribbon down so i could take a pic.  but then…that's in the Past.  these are Today.  but ……

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this last one is Caroline, mother of Jude's Magic who can be seen behind her.  she is due to kid two days after Lucky Star.

and as i put these pics here, i thought…there is enough here for FIVE women to do.  so, even, this much, even This Much,  is 

accomplishment.

and i can be glad.  i can say now at the end of this day,  with Sun almost at the Rim,  that it was just a very good enough day.  nothing Remarkable, but a very good enough day.  so, O K.

 

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23 responses to “98”

  1. Valerianna Avatar
    Valerianna

    Oh yes, when we actually take stock in what we have done, we see that something has been accomplished.
    Today felt weird for me, until I got home from errands and planted and spread poop in the garden. Things fall off me then, as I go to the Earth. And its clear accomplishment when I look outside and see the weeds piled high in the compost or the new plants in their new home. Hope the scrap feed is good mulch. This year I am caving and buying bark mulch, just can’t weed again and again and again when there is painting to do!
    Hope you do well in 100… I melt.

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  2. grace Avatar
    grace

    “things fall off me then, as I go to the Earth”
    Y E S. yes and yes and yes. whatever it is, the weeds,
    the compost, the plantlets…it just SEEPS in, both ways.
    to them, to us. such and exchange, so life giving.
    and weeding/painting i understand. what can WORK????
    how can things GO?????
    these are the questions. and to continue going toward
    understanding how everything can have Enough is where it’s at.
    i feel bad always about that scrap feed. it’s what just
    falls off when i take “flakes” from a bale for Them. some
    always drops down and falls and becomes so mingled with
    dust. if we were in a moment of DIRE STRAITS, this could be scooped up and fed. but now, there is enough for compost and more. so i am hoping that it will work and that at then end of this circle of seasons it can be turned into the earth and become SPRING.
    and 100, well…anything that goes OVER the internal biological temperature of a being, 98.6, is stress for that thing. but it’s ok and good. you just form your
    days around the movement of SUN. mornings. evenings.
    middle day is quiet and sloooooow. i watch the Goats,
    seeing how they deal with it. Learning. this morning
    3 lizards skittered from beneath their water tub.

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  3. beth Avatar
    beth

    Oh, the way those goats look at you…

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  4. grace Avatar
    grace

    yes. they are not kidding. they are for so very real.
    they connect. in a way that is quite intense. just a
    look. just a gesture. just a sound.

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  5. Valerianna Avatar
    Valerianna

    I watch Pasha these days in the summer – down under ferns and mosses for the WHOLE time its hot. Then, up and alert for late afternoon prowls and belly-up in the driveway – most open area – to catch whatever hint of breeze there might be. But, humans these days don’t live this way. Siesta – in Greece I did. They did. Up early, work the fields til midday, big lunch, rest for hours, afternoon back at work in fields ( or banks until 9 or 10pm, yikes, not fun) light meal, bed. A good rhythm for me except the going back to work until so late at night if in the city with a corporate or shopkeeper job. I would be Ok with being in the fields until sundown. And often am weeding after dinner or delaying dinner because of work outside. Not wired for desk job… not at ALL!

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  6. patricia Avatar
    patricia

    well, it was enough to read Julian’s question–“is this you, Old Nana?” and to see the abalone. my heart just melted.

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  7. Michelle in NYC Avatar
    Michelle in NYC

    My ears perk up and eyes get clearer than they can be really when I visit here. I love to see you talking the way you tell things–and the mulch is sure pretty–and yes heart melting to Julian’s words too, and those great goat eyes, such beautiful bodies…so, even though I kinda want to tell about my lately day-for-night routine–who knows why…I’m gonna post it at my own blog. This post of yours is so perfectly satisfying as is, as are the comments and your answers…..purrfectly satisfying.

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  8. jude Avatar
    jude

    something settled on, something remembered, something found, a connection, purpose, considering need, growing things,looking, expecting tomorrow. these days are more than good enough.

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  9. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    A good enough day, yes, and looking in particular at the woody beauty of the growing beds, the woven cucumber trellis, the cucumber patch, the spectacular tomatillos, that green against the weathered wood, I think, this is enough…and then you add the new tiles that look ancient, the cloth stacks neatly displayed and the faces of the goats, and it becomes so much more, a quietly overflowing day; all led by the shine of an abalone shell and a little boy connecting it to his Old Nana…

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  10. Cynthia Avatar
    Cynthia

    i am going back and forth….the gaze of the goats, the cucumber trellis …seeing the abalone and the lovely story that accompanies it and loving the partner on the wall..imagining the feel of the beautiful purse in one’s hand…smiling at the new tiles..knowing the time and energy to remove the tiles that you really did not want there ..and the small pleasure of the tiles you now have them and the shiny ones are gone..eand the connection made with the nice fiber guild person because of this..imagining the small repeated pleaure of walking in each day and seeing the floor changed and corrected..
    ( do you walk barefoooted and with pleasure..people seem so divided on this and my husband and i were lectured this week ..because we both do this and apparenly should not for so many good reasons and then we felt when we came home in the heat of the day and shed our shoes delighting in the feel of the cool tile and the warm earth with him saying ..now one of us is really going to get cut or something..when are we going to grow up..with a smile that still can just take my breath away with the gratitude i feel to see it )
    it is dark and grey here ..the rain is pounding…along with my head..i will be happy when the pressure gradients change a little bit..but i am looking at yor tomatillos and imagining heat and summer and the sauces you will make,,the feeling of the dry shells and the smells as they roast..i was so delighted to find they can be grown in vermont..our first venture with them..we planted very many thinking that we would get some..and no they went wild and we staked and staked and gave them out freely..such a good surprise..who knew…
    ..and the abalone..is this you ,Old Nana..i so remember the power of abalone when i was a child..the otters on the coast would catch it and they float on their backs… they use rocks when they open heavy shelled thing and hammer them against their chests..i would crouch on the rocks forever to watch them dive and periscope and come up to feed their pups. they have many strange and sweet sounds..but when they bob up to reunite …..they say eeeeee eeeeee ….it is amazing to see and to hear and when i saw the abalone shell and read your story ..the memory of that sound just rushed through me..i have not thought of that i so long…
    “how do we know where to begin ..so i figured it out “…eee eee grace ..what a truly lovely beginning to this day you have given me..as always many thank yous xox much cynthia

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  11. yvette Avatar
    yvette

    i wish i could rest a little while sitting by your goats and you petting our heads
    sigh

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  12. kat Avatar
    kat

    I don’t know who tells you barefoot isn’t good. There is so much research now that tells us we should be doing this. It is called Grounding, and also helps build muscles in the correct places of our feet and bodies. It gives us such wonderful connection to the earth, to be barefoot, particularly outside. I say if it’s a joy to you, keep it up! We need joy!

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  13. kat Avatar
    kat

    I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed those soulful eyes of the goats – so wonderful to see them today. I love seeing your part of NM (though it’s way to hot for me). As barefoot walking is – so are your words and pictures for me – Grounding.
    A beautiful way to start my work day. Thank you for sharing this, Grace.

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  14. saskia Avatar
    saskia

    ah you do so much!!
    as you know I’m in a very relaxed mode these days….strange thing is things do get done
    for instance, I bought a new mopping device and did the kitchenfloor, our kitchen now smells of pine, how divine; the dogs look on in admiration, no not really, they follow me for food and hugs

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  15. Cynthia Avatar
    Cynthia

    honestly so much of it is joy grace could write JOY..he has been so very ill..lay in icu for literally weeks in a coma and… all i could do was be there ..and rub these huge size 16 feet..his big toe totally fills my hand..and people gave me shea butters and fragrant oils and i stood at the foot of the bed because there were too many machines and wires at the head of it ..and for weeks i rubbed these feet as they swelled and the skin sloughed off and there was never a sign except in my head or heart or somewhere and then one day he woke up and said clementines…i want some clementines….it was so long before he could even stand on those feet much less walk on them..and i know the doctors want to protect them..protect a body so stripped of its defenses and i get that..but if you could see him as he walks barefoot on the warm ground..really shoes?? grounding is somewhere so far beyond right…it is a connection i am not willing to give up…thank you for this note ..it is good to have unknown spirits on your side cynthia

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i was so….humbled. i guess humbled and gratified,
    that this little boy saw me in this beautiful piece of
    shell

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i read the Day for Night. i couldn’t do that here…Day
    needs me

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    when you say it this way, they are FULL, aren’t they.
    yes. FULL.
    love,

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    yes. i don’t spend much time with memories, but this one,
    oh…yes. this one feeds me.

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    Pictures, Pictures, Pictures,
    VISUALS
    your words give, and yes!!!! OFF with the Shoes!!!!
    place your Foot Palms firmly on the earth and RECEIVE.
    Yes! and i need to remember this in my New Mornings, to
    receive from my Feet.
    tomatillos..such amazingly beautiful things…and they
    grow in Vermont??????, then more amazing yet. there is a blog of a CSA farmer in California…Ladybug Letter…and he talks of the Purple de Milpa growing in the trenches between crops, wild, and how in Mexico the women just pull the plants and load them in the back of a pickup and in town, people come and buy them all. they are jewels.
    we are queens to have them

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  21. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    Yvette… if i were go be given 3 wishes, this would be
    one…
    love and love

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  22. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    isn’t it interesting, how this state can provide such
    differing climates? and i love this, would be sad in such
    long cold that you have.
    you should visit some time.

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  23. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    the device, so divine…isn’t it Wonderfull? small things?
    no…they are Admiring, i think.

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