“If your voice held no power, they wouldn’t try to silence you.” – unknown
Use your VOICE. Use your VOTE. – The Chicks
I heard this last week and have not stopped listening to it. The words are powerful, but the images are even more so.
I also read this article and these words from Katie Mitchell were an arrow to my heart: “We’re making a lot of money, and we’re happy that people are reading books. But it took the lynching of George Floyd to be played on a loop for people to be interested in things that we’ve been pushing for, you know, for a long time,” she says. “I’d much rather George Floyd be alive.”
In doing better…it means long term…not just now.
for the moment
because everyone else is doing it.
Because after everyone else is done doing it…
We need to continue to (or start?) shoulder the burden that, you know, some have been carrying alone for a long, long, long time. Thank you, Katie Mitchell, remind us so eloquently.
We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough? — Wendell Berry
This week Bonny inspired me to share my garden with you all. We have problems with deer so the “main garden” is a little like Fort Knox. There is fencing, and netting, and woven mesh wire… and thus far we have been successful keeping the deer out.
We added the mesh wire (and a little garden annex) two years ago when the rabbits laughed at our fencing and netting. Peter Rabbit and his sisters slept under our rose plants (yes, they are in the main garden…don’t ask, lol). And they ate every.last.bean! Little rascals. They have yet to figure out a way around the mesh wire, but trust me…they are trying!
And around it all is netting, the deer really hate that stuff!
Let’s take a little walk through my tiny garden where I have four kinds of tomatoes (Pozanno, Oxheart, Husky Cherry Red, and Cuban Yellow Grape), yellow and green bush beans, and an unknown variety of orange sweet peppers…not too much, just enough!
Not quite open blooms
Open blooms!
Lots of open blooms!
Even the “patio pot” has blooms!
There are even tomatoes growing!!
And beans and sweet peppers are doing well in their garden annex!
There are bean blossoms!
There are even sweet pepper blossoms!
Yes, the patio pot is living on the edge. No fencing. No mesh wire. No netting. And curiously, not one animal has even shown a modicum of interest in it.
I hope you enjoyed my brief garden tour! Have an awesome weekend and I will see you back here on Tuesday when I join Honoré for an update on my word!
Post Script: I had written this post earlier in the week when the breaking news was, well, normal breaking news…and then all hell continued to break loose. From police brutality to an explosion of COVID-19 cases.
I don’t know what to do about police brutality, but their ongoing killing of people is making me so angry!
But, I do know what to do about the spread of COVID-19…Please stay home, and if you can’t – wear a mask when you are out, and wash your hands! But really… just stay home!
I discovered this weekend that there is a poem for Lamb’s Ear. As you can see, my garden has a sea of Lamb’s Ear! And it has an army of happy bees that spend their days marching the stalks to harvest every drop of nectar held within those “pink tongues”.
I swore off vegetable gardening after last year, but then the coronavirus changed what life looks like (at least from my perspective) And it made sense to put in a SAH Garden. Apparently, this was the plan of everyone else in the area as well because the nurseries were all cleaned out by Memorial Day Weekend. My choices were not usual, but perhaps that is a good thing. So new varieties of tomatoes are growing quickly and I even have some tomatoes growing on the plants! There are sweet peppers instead of spicy ones. And beans – yellow and green. One important key is that I planted what I can manage by myself, in case Steve bails on me again this year. Rather I should say, he has bailed. His gardening input was to add some fresh dirt to the beds. But, a garden planned for a solo gardener is not a burden at all.
My containers are not full of the usual things either, my thoughts are mixed on how they look right now. But I count myself lucky that there was one lone verbena left for me to get! The color is really lovely!
I am almost done with Clue Three of the TTL Mystery shawl… and my love grows for the design work! I will share photos on Wednesday – but it is the perfect pairing of yarn and pattern!
But!! I started swatching last night and I am very happy with my initial results. It needs a bit more knitting and then a nice bath. But, I thinkthis yarn will work beautifully!
I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do. — James Baldwin
Happy Juneteenth, everyone.
Today I will spend the day thinking about how meaningful this day is for Black Americans…and how far White America thinks we have come…but has not. And how I can do better.
Now let’s get on with the finds!
Need some listening suggestions? I got you this week!
But so did this… because Ansel. Ummm, yeah. It is lovely and it would be the perfect yarn for a sweater. Seriously… you need this in your knitting life. Now!
I know some of you have been doing a flurry of dishcloth knitting… but what about some potholder love?
I would love to tell you I got all this knitting done over the weekend, but strawberries are ripe in the ‘Burgh.
And so, there was lots of hulling. Lots of macerating. Lots of rolling boiling. And lots of slow-roasting. And, as always, I want to thank Judy for this incredible recipe which made my house smell wonderful all.weekend.long.
We ended up with 10 pints of jam, which sounds like a lot but, they won’t last until next berry season! But oh boy, these jars are jam-packed with the taste of summer! There is nothing like a nice dollop of jam on yogurt cold, dark January. It is the tastiest promise of summer I can think of!
And in-between berry preserving, I pickled some jalapenos as well!
The jam making was a good diversion from my allergy misery. Oy, the itchy eyes, the sneezing… am I the only one, or does this year seem a bit worse than normal?
And here we are on a Monday, that feels very much like a lazy Saturday morning to me. Coffee and knitting anyone?
P.S. I did not want the day to go by with no mention of Rayshard Brooks. I read a post on FB yesterday about the need to think about the police in all this. Really? Here is what I think about the police… they believe they can get away with murder. I have zero respect for them. Zero.
Another week in the bag and this one brought our first 90+ degree days. If this is a taste of what is to come…sigh. Honoré commented yesterday on my “summer sweater” and it not being very wearable in 90+ degree weather. And that would be true if it were wool, but it is linen and yes, I can and will wear it all summer long. Sorry I did not get a photo of it yesterday, but it was exactly what I hoped it would be! Light, airy, and so comfortable! I finally added my modifications to the project page if you are interested.
It was a week with lots of reflection and inward looking… and listening. So much listening. And that is where I am going to start this post.
And this is a fantastic 8 minutes and 33 seconds. Thanks, Casey Neistat!
Get Going —
Katie gave me the inspiration to cast on my Mystery Shawl. I did start. I am on Clue One. Clue Three is out. I am not stressing about being “behind” (okay, maybe a little especially when I have this list of things I want to knit and wear yet this summer!) what yarn? I am using Jill Draper’s Ansel in Forget Me Not 1 and 3. And this yarn… oh my. It is scrumptious. I just love woolen spun yarns… and this one is perfectly done.
And then Julia Farwell-Clay had this temptation this week! Oh boy. WANT!! I am planning on this to be the perfect August Knit, you know for those days when the constantly running AC makes the house feel like a deep freeze and a nice lap full of wool is just the thing you want!
Inspiration —
This year I have been spending time reading poetry. Each month I try and find a “new to me” poet and settle in with their words. It has been inspiring in ways that I never imagined. And these days poetry becomes more and more vital to my day. I am in awe of poetry writers and their ability to put their words and feelings on paper. I think it would be so much fun to take a poetry class… and perhaps a socially distanced poetry class!
Finally, open your eyes —
Yesterday’s episode on The Slowdown was brilliant, go listen… it will be the best 5 minutes of your day! (and it was the perfect thing to have listened to before seeing this:
“I can’t breathe.”
“I don’t care.”
Six words that say so much. Because of cameras, the world is finally seeing in vivid detail the brutality that Black communities have known for generations. Derrick Scott’s family deserves justice. https://t.co/cetEZUWQTd
That’s it for the week, I hope I shared some things that will make you stop and think, some resources to help us all be better, and a little knitting… because sometimes it is the only think keeping me (somewhat) sane.
