Succulents

I have jumped into overhaul mode. Must be time. I moved into a house a few years ago that has character. Established character. It spoke to me the day I walked in and saw the previous owners creations all over the house. She used gourds and seed pods dried flowers and wood as her medium. The house was full of painted, carved, stained and shiny shellacked bits of all sizes and shapes. She made lamps, tables, wreaths. The house was stuffed to the brim with artsy things.

The front yard is a southwestern hardscape. It is not UNattractive. I just am no fan of rocks instead of greens.  Take out the cactus' that are pretty, but rude. I like cactus. I do NOT like it in my yard. It is not a friendly plant. Ask my daughter. I don't know how she did it. But the dog came to the house for help one afternoon, many years ago. She had managed to suspend herself magically on 5 inch cactus tines on a 4 foot tall beast of a thing. I don't know how it happened. It looked like she was placed there by crane. It was a bitch to get her down. It was hours of baby on the kitchen table, dosed strongly with Benadryl. A pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass. Poor baby. Cactus and I are no longer friends. It tried to eat my daughter.

 The back yard has a sturdy lawn with different grasses to cover the sun only and shade only areas. Watering is handled via sprinkler systems on a timer. I LOVE the timer. I SUCK at programming it. We have had a few deaths along my learning curve. I've had to kill a mature and gorgeous honeysuckle. It was full of wasp nests. The largest I saw was the size of a paper plate. I was stung. I got very sick. Taking antihistimines along with my regular medications....18 hours of sleep...bad idea. The honey suckle had to go. I was really sad, it was pretty. Rotted fencing. A sturdy and full attitude palm tree stands proudly. The pompous grass had to go. Several blank palates have been looking at me for a year. I have planted marigolds that are happy and hearty and are taking over. I am letting them supplement the soil. Little rotted plant matter build up.

I know soil changes like this aren't fast. I am waiting, sort of. I am no good at patience. I want the 30 minute improvement, just like TV. No such luck. I am not spending an arm and a leg for that. Yards don't handle such grand overhauls well. Lots of things can become mulch for their neighbors, but not everything survives planting.

I am trimming the palm in back. Little at a time. The leaves will droop and touch you as you pass. I cut those down, and trim up the trunk. I have tackled the soil in the bed next it. Marigolds. A jasmine which seems determined to stay. Roses in different places that are all going to relocate to the corner and become a rose garden with a bench. The bird bath is living in the middle of the bulb garden. There are two gloriously tall junipers that I have trimmed up from the bottom so it is safe to walk past them.

This week I started with a brick garden box by the front door. Has a yucca (going) some ivy (going) and two roses (relocating). I have discovered a succulent garden thought process. Little clusters of this and that. They are water wise. They are green and don't try to skewer you. I also have a strawberry pot that just doesn't like to hold plants. It's future destiny is a Fairy High Rise.

Things CAN change. Things can GROW. Things can become more than what they are. Yes, they can fail. I prefer to consider these failures as fruit for the survivors. Alright. lets get dirty.

Reactionary

I have had the need to assess my responses to situations around me. Am I REacting to what I perceive as your Insert Adjective  behavior. Or am I acting out of Life Experience and somehow imparting a piece of my Character into this situation to a Useful End. Am I participating in someone else's emotional reactions and snowballing something out of control? Or do I stand firm and tell my Truth without seeking my own end?

I have lived in different cultural situations. The nomadic existence of being a military brat created short term relationships that sometimes led to certain young people telling fish stories of their grandiose life styles and secrets of state we swore we knew and could never tell. The adolescent tales of 'who is sleeping with who' and who wore what, and how cool are you, as opposed to me? That all took place in a culture that my family had spent generations in, though I was still an outsider, since not everyone of my contemporaries immediately knew my family. The short term 'ole lady. The long term wife. Co-worker. Lover. Friend. Partner.

I have never had time for 'survivor' style manipulation. I don't get the amusement. I don't understand the need to undermine another person for professional (or personal) status. If you have to step ON me, apparently I have more value than you want to admit. So, get off me.

Since I have had to take a detailed inventory of ME (which is a damned chore), I have been watching my responses to things. I have always been pretty careful during my young life to watch my body cycles and make sure that I am fed and watered well if I got short tempered. Checked the status of the moon to see if I had to put all my knives away, made sure I let the people around me know that I could be surly, and to just smile and nod if poison drips from my face. Any other response usually just escalates my temper. I have had some absolutely wonderful partners in my life that have stood and yelled "rawr-rawr" right back at me, and let me just hollar a bad mood away until the behavior just made me laugh. I have very good friends.

I have been watching Action versus REaction in myself very carefully. I have been working on my constructive ability and functionality. I would like to someday trust that I can make a plan, execute, tidy up, and reap the benefits of my good work without pausing, second guessing, finding a squirrel, or just tossing my hands up and taking a nap instead. I am a difficult teacher, I do not accept failure. My ears have no ability to process whining (even my own). I cannot hear the word "No" (ask my anyone).

I stumble. I fall. If someone cuts me off in traffic, I still scream my newly invented epithets. But I have never beaten anyone for driving like a moron. I have had lots of opportunity. I am not saying I never will. Just that I have not.

It's not my core character to hurt someone. I do not do so with intention. My intention is to bring comfort and honesty. My intention is to act with an open heart and give what I can to this situation. My intention is to Listen and Teach. No more than you need, no less than you require.

I am working very hard to give myself Time and Space. To evaluate what, in my day, may be motivating my next sentence, or the way I feel RIGHT NOW. Is it important that I say the next sentence that is about to come shooting out of this pie hole of mine? Or should I bite my tongue, wait 24 hours and see how I feel about it then? Is this next sentence going to permanently change my relationship? In a good way? Will this benefit one of us? Is is shallow and trivial? Is it hurtful?



--Pleasure's couch is virtue's grave  <<Augustine Duganne