A day
drunk with the nectar of
slowness
weaves its way between
the years
to find itself at the flophouse
of night
to sleep and be seen
no more.
Will I be less
dead because I wrote this
poem or you more because
you read it
long years hence.
300th Post! YES it’s about PLANTS!
Well, looky here, my our this blog’s 300th post!
I have been extraordinarily busy and very absent on this blog, but we still made it to 300! I don’t have any of the more time-consuming serial posts ready yet, so this is just a boring plants update that I’m personally super excited about, because I’m a boring person.
Remember this wall guy? You wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t have a picture to back it up, but he’s even more glorious now
I also recently purchased some new quiet time friends. I have 3 terrariums that were sitting empty because I’m a serial tiny fern killer. (I feel bad even just saying it. It’s the only plants I couldn’t keep alive, I swear!) I have, however, worked out a new solution for this problem that I deduced was due to lack of moisture in the air where the terrariums used to sit. So when I had an afternoon free I visited a nursery near me.
But not just any nursery! I went to a local nonprofit here in Philadelphia called Greensgrow! Greensgrow Farms works to promote urban green spaces and help city dwellers grow their own food. They hosts workshops such as how to create a visually pleasing, viable container (window boxes rule the land here) and what to plant to help out nature’s pollinators.
Due to their smaller selection, I was only able to find two terrarium friends. But I couldn’t leave behind this gorgeous milky Nephthytis so I came home with three plants.
Please note that Nephthytis is TOXIC to cats, dogs and horses. I use the ASPCA’s handy guide to research all the plants I want. This was an impulse purchase, and I had to reorganize my plant guest room to accommodate it. It is the only plant I own that is not pet safe, and she lives on a high shelf now, out of reach of my “munch first, vomit later” mutt.
I have other, other great news! DWM is getting its first writer/contributor! Her name is Christina and she helms BuenQamino, a gluten-free, dairy-free, autoimmune friendly travel blog. We met at community college and later transferred to the same university. I’m very excited to have her on board; it’s about time we get some quality content on here 😉
Happy Sunday everyone and happy 300th post to me!
Poetry Ptuesday: Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Poetry Ptuesday: The Night Migrations by Louise Gluck
This is the moment when you see again
the red berries of the mountain ash
and in the dark sky
the birds’ night migrations.
It grieves me to think
the dead won’t see them–
these things we depend on,
they disappear.
What will the soul do for solace then?
I tell myself maybe it won’t need
these pleasures anymore;
maybe just not being is simply enough,
hard as that is to imagine.
Motivational Monday — Courtney Act
The finale of Dancing with the Stars: Australia just aired. I haven’t seen the show but I know of one of its contestants this season, a very special Miss Courtney Act aka Shane Gilberto Jenek, by way of another hit TV show Rupaul’s Drag Race, which I have watched for years.
Courtney has already built up a strong and profound history of advocacy and education. Here is a clip of her being ya best pal and explaining some fundamentals:
You seeing this? Accessible, fun, intelligent and warm, and that is just a glimpse.
What I really want to bring up here, though, is one of her post performance interviews on the show Dancing with the Stars (AU).
"Whatever benefit you think you're getting from minimising a part of yourself, you have no idea how beautiful it is on the other side when you shine a light on that dark place" @courtneyact PREACH #DWTSau pic.twitter.com/mOoD1Gz4HE
— Dancing With The Stars Australia (@DancingOn10) March 4, 2019
So, again, and the whole thing, because it so bears repeating:
“You remember those times when you’re living in shame or you’re hiding something about yourself that you think you should be ashamed of and I guess it’s just a message of whatever benefit you think you’re receiving from minimizing a part of yourself, you have no idea how wonderful it is on the other side when you shine a light on that dark place and you live it.”
Happy Monday.