Lettuce Pray

This year I went seed crazy. There isn't as much satisfaction in buying plants when you can embark on the adventure of raising seedlings. This year's big experiment was lettuce. I planted a few seeds in my basement ( in April) and was surprised at how quickly they germinated. The 'few' seeds made a fluffy row of seedlings in the center of my planter box - I marveled that every single one seemed to have germinated, and watched with unbridled joy as they grew to the point that they needed thinning out. This was when reality set in...followed by a growing sense of alarm. One container became two, then four and still I couldn't accommodate them. Four became eight (I don't think I lost a single seedling) and I began to have visions of offloading an armful of lettuce onto my neighbors.

Then there was a heat wave. That, combined with the fact that I'm a lettuce virgin and didn't know that lettuce doesn't like too much light - resulted in the phenomenon known as bolting. My lettuce started to look like little trees -oops. I tasted a leaf - bitter as gall... and tough as leather. Regretfully ( though not too regretfully, because I needed the space) I culled all the bolted plants and pulled all eight containers to the shady side of the house (duh!), re-spaced the plants, and flooded them with water.

 

In addition to lettuce, I've got tomatoes in the tulip bed ( tulip bulbs are resting in a sack of sawdust in the basement and will be replanted in September), and more tomatoes in two jumbo planters which will be home to the daffodils in September ( they are also sleeping in sawdust in the basement). The cucumbers are currently smaller than my pinkie but at night they gorge on water, slowly stretching and filling like green sausage-shaped balloons. At a party, a hired clown can manage to twist these balloons into as diverse shapes as puppies, snakes, giraffes; flowers, hearts and halos. Let's see if we can get a salad going before the summer is out.

Photos: mine

A Blessing, A Graduation and Independence

I've found it hard to slow down - the first half of this year was a blur of deadlines, doctor visits, exams and decisions. I thought that rest would come in early June with the New York State 8th grade Science exam, but that didn't happen. In June, my son graduated from middle school and we're now staring down Homer's Iliad - his high school summer reading assignment: graduation, big time. 

I've realized that I don't have an inexhaustible supply of energy, and like most things associated with the aging process, that takes some accepting.I think I'm angry about the whole thing, but I'm trying to be less so - I just don't have the energy. Serenity now. 

Last week, City Island's fleet of boats was blessed and turned onto the high seas. It was an intimate little ceremony attended by maybe thirty people including my family of four. We were treated to a parade of watercraft of all sizes: yachts to jet skis to canoes. Each was blessed by the three ministers, saluted by the white-clad honor guard, then waved along by our small crowd of onlookers.

Then there was the Fourth of July - a lazy day on which I painted my new birdhouse - a duplex! It was just the kind of low-stakes activity I needed. I painted the whole thing white, then used painter's tape to prepare it for the green trim. It took time... hours in fact. Nothing great was accomplished in the world of wood and paint - but there was rest, and that was a blessing.
Here's another snapshot of the renku which Daniela and I worked on last year. 
 

#11 L (6.15.11)

Morning, morning –

it always comes

is always coming.

#12 D (6.27.11)

Cap, gown, diploma—

My son! A fine young man!

Just born yesterday…

#12 L (7.22.11)

Summer haze:
new graduates toss and scatter

old ones stoop and gather.

Photos: Mine