earth+water+sun= life

I picked up a mixed packet of wild flower seeds at a local flower shop and threw them into some soil, watered and waited and here they are (except for the portulaca). I planted these a little later in the season, so they are just coming alive now, which is nice, because many of my other plants are finishing off their season.

Like so many gardeners, many of my tomato plants turned into trees bearing just a few green tomato's which never ripened before their branches broke and withered away. There has just been so much rain. I mean, I wasn't complaining, since carrying my watering can into the apartment for refills, 8 times a day, was tiring! But the rain was just too much, this season. So chop-chop went a few of my saddest tomato plants to make room for those that were producing.

These are some photos of the tomato's I harvested this week. Mmmm, roasted in the oven with a little olive oil and Hosin sauce.

It is late August, you can feel the night becoming cooler, and I can't help but think that summer is coming to an end. I am dedicated to my outdoor space though, still clinging to the idea that I can sit out there anytime I want.

Coltrane and I still frequent the garden daily. I end up checking all the veggies and pulling off dead leaves, he sniffs around, chases flies and eats any flecks of grass that try and poke through the stones. We are a good team!

Summer is and will always be, my favourite season!

words

Be the change that you want to see in the world. - Gandhi

Action expresses priorities. - Gandhi

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - Gandhi

Where there is love there is life. - Gandhi

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Gandhi

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Gandhi

Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.

- Gandhi

The pleasure lies in making the effort, not in its fulfillment. - Gandhi

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind. - Gandhi

It is health which is real wealth, not pieces of silver and gold. - Gandhi

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. - Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Gandhi

All true art must help the soul to realize its inner self. - Gandhi

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They are simply words, arranged in different order. Words which you can choose to hear, or choose to ignore. Each day that passes, Words are getting stronger. When I lived overseas for a year, I entered an English word vacuum. No longer susceptible to subliminal messaging, subconscious reading. There was a splodge of English here and there, but as the Chinese language is mainly symbols and characters. I found myself grasping for books like I was gasping for air. I would lay on the couch all day, and read, line after line, feeding my mind with what it craved.

But why did I crave the Word? Why do 'we' crave the word?

Actions speak louder than words... I want words. I want them on my shirts, I want them in my kitchen, I want them on my body.

Words speak to me.

These quotes I found today, will be stamped on my walls within the week. Why? Because I have lost focus, things have been blurry. I have been back to Canada for years now, but with the onslaught of English advertising, highway signs, cereal boxes, that need to read, left me. It didn't even leave a forwarding address until today. Today it called from within and told me I need to start CHOOSING what I read.

I only really know one language. One set of words which when arranged in one way, makes me feel good, while when arranged in another can shift my world, bring me down, hustle me out of my drive to be me.

Since positive words make me feel so good, I must surround myself with them. I will let these words affect me, effect me, penetrate my being. I want these words to be my mood, my mantra, my food.

What do words mean to you?

Needing pencil crayons, leads to theories of living

I had an urge today, to draw something with pencil crayons. That was the medium I needed. I needed to sharpen and shade and blend as hard or lightly as I wanted. Which brought me to my options, go out and buy a new box of pencil crayons, or drive out to my parents house in the boonies*, to get my art supplies out of the basement.

(* for those of you not familiar with this term it is affectionately used to describe houses in the country, outside of the city or in the "boondocks".)

I am passionate about reusing and I am on a budget, so I think I will have to drive out to the 'rents house tomorrow and pick up those pencil crayons to scratch this sketching itch.

Whenever I end up needing something from my parents house, I feel the weirdness of living with only half my stuff.

I am in this transition period, not completely out of my parents house, but not completely into my own house. Apartment living is that dimension where semi-adults my age, thrive. I thought I should document this time in my life, because it is a time that I may not remember going through years from now.

But are those pencil crayons really mine? Technically they are from my childhood, so I should split them with my brother, and my Mom may still want to use them...

I have to explain that I hate feeling burdened by stuff. I hate clutter, I love organization. My apartment is small, but clean and simple. So, the idea that I have boxes of stuff in my parents basement gives me the sweats... As much as I need stuff, I hate having too much stuff.

(People say Hate is a strong word, and that it should not be used frivolously, so consider this not a frivolous use of the word.)

This transitional period started when I was 17, working away from home. Only bringing what I thought I'd need. Then each summer away, the list of "needs" would change based on how much I wanted to lug around and what I wanted to do. One summer, my paint-kit came with me, the next summer my knitting-kit came with me. This travelling side-show life I had is over, but I am still technically living this way. I can't afford a place big enough to fit all my stuff, nor do I want to lug all my stuff in and out of every place I move to, but I still feel the need to keep this stuff. Why? Because of the FUTURE! The future may hold a kitchen with tons of storage, an Art room, a Green house, a Garage! So I will hold onto this stuff because one day, I will have to choose to let go, but not today!

This week, I will drive into the boonies, pick up pencil crayons and draw. And my happy semi-adult-pseudo-house living will continue to thrive.