The Wonders of Outside

 

Feeling a little better today. My evil neighbor is still planning to replace the plants we kept at Rich's house all winter, but she did say we could plant those plants in the ground, and the neighbor I walk with says she can take them to Florida in the autumn, since they can grow outside there. The vines have lots of new growth on them, so we are sure they will recover and bloom. Of course, the evil neighbor asked the woman at the nursery, who said mandevillas never bloom as well the second year, but why wouldn't she say that? She wants to sell us new ones.

After work today I went to my garden plot with the neighbor I walk with, and when we went into the tool shed, we found a whole bunch of seeds they were giving away. I planted radishes, carrots, broccoli, kohlrabi, and banana peppers, and I still have seeds for pumpkins, spaghetti squash, and pattypan squash to plant - maybe tomorrow after work. My neighbor weeded around the baby plants I had planted last week, which are still small but otherwise doing well. One ground cherry looks like some of its leaves got attacked by bugs, and a Swiss chard plant looks like it got munched by a rabbit, but they look like they are recovering nicely. My neighbor collected the dandelion leaves, and when I got home, I ate them. Between the salad of greens and all that outdoor labor, I felt pretty healthy and happy.

Then Travalon came home, and we went on a short boat ride out into the marsh. It was the golden hour, just before sunset, and everything was so beautiful in the waning light. We didn't have much time, since I was praying with the Rosary Ladies in an hour, but it was such a beautiful evening that we had to get out there. Especially Travalon, who had to stay inside with the kids who refused to go outside today. Those kids! They just want to sit inside and play on their phones. I want to get this semiprofessional birdwatcher to give a talk to them and get them all interested in birds. He posts his very enthusiastic videos on social media, and I love them. Maybe the kids would too. He's younger than we are, and the same race as a lot of the kids, so they might relate better to him than to old white bird nerds like Travalon and me. I may be wrong, but I just feel like if some of these kids could feel the wonder of discovering birds, they would be so much happier and more grounded. If you are a preteen girl worried that your social media posts are not getting enough likes, what better cure than to forget yourself completely while watching an Eastern kingbird swoop around or lose yourself in trying to find the woodcock you can hear calling? Maybe we could get them involved in gardening too. Digging in the dirt is so good for a person's soul.

Famous Hat