Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Glorious before become soil again

Passing from alive to not alive is seldom done gracefully.  My Rhubarb has it mastered I observe during the garden clean up Things I get to do today.  No longer erect and crisp, the stalks have lost their will. The leaves lay flattened, exposed, vulnerable and, most of all, beautiful and elegant.

No fear of letting go

What lesson is here?  Is it possible that what lies beyond is more glorious than what we are so attached to in this physical awareness? Consider the lilies. Consider the Rhubarb. Consider yourself.

Upon More Careful Observation

Mystery is never absent--lower right.

The planter is spent.  After a whole summer and a good chunk of fall, plenty of which had a record lack of moisture, anything that has survived in this tired pot of plants is indeed a hero.  The idea of checking out the faithful arrangement of growies drifted through the Things I get to do today, and I finally detoured while headed to the chicken house to at least tip the plant container to drain out the gatherings of our lately heavy rains.

Big Green will come out someday and will be a. . .

And I moved the whole arrangement to an area that would collect less water. That's when I noticed a bright green spot in an unusual place. Ajuga trails over the edge.  It has purple flowers.  What is this chartreuse bud going to flower into on the Ajuga? More careful observation: big green is not technically part of the plant; big green is a chrysalis. 

Mystery.  Suggestions?  Can anyone tell me what this will be?

Vacuuming the gutters!

Whoever heard of such a thing?  This I have to share.  I'm so excited about a recent discovery that the leaf blower found in Aunt Alice's garage after she died 15 years ago and immediately claimed by me, will not only blow the constantly-falling curly black locust leaves off the patio every day from Spring to Winter, but with a slight change in parts (more about that in another post) will also vacuum the blown hedgerow of buttery golden "petals" into a tidy bag which can then be emptied into the garden bed to help make fat, healthy vegetables next summer.

So after a month or so of no rain and now Fall's gentle cooling shifting the possibility of precipitation, I added "check the gutters" to the carefully written page of Things I get to do today.  After readying the ladder and the blower-now-vacuum with its catcher bag, I had the great satisfaction of sucking up the leaves that filled the gutter to over the brim.  What is it that is so fun about making a pile of something just disappear completely?  My heart nearly skipped a beat with the delight of it all.  Just slur-r-r-r-r-r-p and it's gone!