You Can Do Worse Than Marry A Gardener.

(Today I did a bit of gardening after my plumbing failed and flooded the bathroom. These are orchids from my garden.)

I have found, through years of practice, that people garden in order to make something grow; to interact with nature; to share, to find sanctuary, to heal, to honor the earth, to leave a mark. Through gardening, we feel whole as we make our personal work of art upon our land.

- Julie Moir Messervy, The Inward Garden,


A gardener is an artist of the land.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.

- Vita Sackville-West, 1892 - 1962


You can do worse than to marry a gardener.

- Ghostwise

Leaving On A Jet Plane.

(Have never taken so many flights or fly so far in a week. Think I'll stay away from aeroplanes for a while).

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

- John Denver


I'm leaving on a jet plane
And I won't be returning on a slow boat.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

So we'll open the throttle and gather speed,
For an Airman's life is a life indeed,
As the engine roars away;
Gone are the cares of the earth below,
As up through a gap in the clouds we go,
With an ever-increasing sway.

- AC Kermode, in Mechanics of Flight, 1956


The one flying the plane
And the one sitting cramped inside
May have different feelings about the same flight.

- Ghostwise

On Earth There Is No Heaven.

(I went to the hills, and I came back down to earth.)

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance,
the wise grows it under his feet.

- James Oppenheim


I went to the hill to seek peace,
I came down from the hill to live peace.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.

- Jules Renard


When I have picked up enough of the shattered glasses,
I'll make my own mirror.

- Ghostwise

The Grass Grows By Itself.

(Today I cut grass in a light drizzle.)

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself”

- Zen Proverb


Life goes on, even if you don't.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

I come here to speak poetry. It will always be in the grass. It will also be necessary to bend down to hear it. It will always be too simple to be discussed in assemblies.

- Boris Pasternak


If you don't lower yourself to the grass, you'll not hear the sound of the earth.

- Ghostwise

It Was Not Pride That hurts Me.

(Today I was hurt. I have not learned not to be hurt.)

... pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts — not to hurt others.

- George Eliot


Call me "proud", I hurt alone.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

To live is to hurt others, and through others, to hurt oneself. Cruel earth! How can we manage not to touch anything? To find what ultimate exile?

- Albert Camus


And even when we live in exile, we have not lost the capability to hurt ourself.

- Ghostwise