Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Spring Goddess Garden
Spring has finally come to the Emerald City and with it I have finally had a couple of days to work on the Goddess Meditation Garden that will one day be out behind the garage. I had had grandiose visions of it being complete by this time. The Gnostic Retreat starts in just a couple of days. I had wanted it to be a place of solace that those participating in the retreat could go and sit, pray, meditate, say the Gnostic Rosary or chant the Tara mantra. Hmm, not gonna happen.
The previous owners of our property used that area as a dumping ground. Now I don’t just mean that they had the compost bin out there, I mean that they literally did not have trash service for seven years. Once every few months they would load up a truck and make a run to the city dump. Why???
I have this image of them as looking something like Ma and Pa Kettle with chicken coops and rabbit hutches and a hound dog out back. Nothing quite like the sound of a rooster at five AM to start the day.
So last year my husband pulled out several dump load of garbage and we racked and put down bark. I purchased a nice bamboo plant and an archway to go at the entrance. I pulled up all the weeds and thought. This is good, over the winter it will all just sit here and in the spring I can plant some flowers, set up an altar and a mediation bench. Oh yeah, I thought I could put a labyrinth in the back yard too. hahhahahahhaha
Then reality set it. The first warm day I went out and found that some how even in the snow and rain the weeds were back. But they had shallow roots and were not to hard to pull up. On the advice of my father in-law I dug up all the dirt that was resting against the side of the garage so that the wood will not rot. Good idea. This however uncovered even more layers of garbage. Candy wrappers, old gloves, broken window panes, some carpet, tampons. WHAT!! Ahhh man!
I have placed some used concert bricks that my neighbor didn’t want anymore (they are fairly hideous) along the garage wall to keep the dirt from piling back up on it. Now I need to level it out, I need to remove a large quantity of dirt (mixed with trash) in order to make it reasonably level. The back of the yard is higher so it will slope, but with any luck I can make it a gentle sloping mound rather than a big step or a hill all sloping back to the garage wall. I am not sure what to do with the excess dirt. Erik has some ideas.
One of my neighbors was separating some bulbs and left them in my yard for me to plant. OK, I have no idea where to plant them since the soil isn’t ready but they are going in the ground by the start of the retreat. They will be dead if I wait.
The lawn might not get mowed again before the retreat either. I think we missed our window of opportunity the other day. The grass is just a tad too tall now, but the grass is also damp. It is nice and grean however and that is a huge improvement over last year.
Oh yes, the lilacs are in bloom!! I thought that they would have died off by now, but so far they are doing great. We may have fresh flowers for the chapel every day. That would be so nice. Don't plan on it though. My cat likes to eat them and then she throws up, so we may be skipping the indoor flowers all together.
My cat rules the house. You have been warned. Or in the words of Wendsday Adams: "Be afraid, be very afraid."
M
The previous owners of our property used that area as a dumping ground. Now I don’t just mean that they had the compost bin out there, I mean that they literally did not have trash service for seven years. Once every few months they would load up a truck and make a run to the city dump. Why???
I have this image of them as looking something like Ma and Pa Kettle with chicken coops and rabbit hutches and a hound dog out back. Nothing quite like the sound of a rooster at five AM to start the day.
So last year my husband pulled out several dump load of garbage and we racked and put down bark. I purchased a nice bamboo plant and an archway to go at the entrance. I pulled up all the weeds and thought. This is good, over the winter it will all just sit here and in the spring I can plant some flowers, set up an altar and a mediation bench. Oh yeah, I thought I could put a labyrinth in the back yard too. hahhahahahhaha
Then reality set it. The first warm day I went out and found that some how even in the snow and rain the weeds were back. But they had shallow roots and were not to hard to pull up. On the advice of my father in-law I dug up all the dirt that was resting against the side of the garage so that the wood will not rot. Good idea. This however uncovered even more layers of garbage. Candy wrappers, old gloves, broken window panes, some carpet, tampons. WHAT!! Ahhh man!
I have placed some used concert bricks that my neighbor didn’t want anymore (they are fairly hideous) along the garage wall to keep the dirt from piling back up on it. Now I need to level it out, I need to remove a large quantity of dirt (mixed with trash) in order to make it reasonably level. The back of the yard is higher so it will slope, but with any luck I can make it a gentle sloping mound rather than a big step or a hill all sloping back to the garage wall. I am not sure what to do with the excess dirt. Erik has some ideas.
One of my neighbors was separating some bulbs and left them in my yard for me to plant. OK, I have no idea where to plant them since the soil isn’t ready but they are going in the ground by the start of the retreat. They will be dead if I wait.
The lawn might not get mowed again before the retreat either. I think we missed our window of opportunity the other day. The grass is just a tad too tall now, but the grass is also damp. It is nice and grean however and that is a huge improvement over last year.
Oh yes, the lilacs are in bloom!! I thought that they would have died off by now, but so far they are doing great. We may have fresh flowers for the chapel every day. That would be so nice. Don't plan on it though. My cat likes to eat them and then she throws up, so we may be skipping the indoor flowers all together.
My cat rules the house. You have been warned. Or in the words of Wendsday Adams: "Be afraid, be very afraid."
M
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Cereal Bowl and Calm.
Ahhh,
I feel so much better.
I do apologize for my rambling post last evening. It was meant as a way for me to express my relief that I had taken a step back and was breathing and relaxing now after stressing for a week only to come across as more stress.
Sorry 'bout that.
My husband and I spent the day putting some finish touches on the cottage prior to Gnostic Retreat '08. He cleaned the garage out and we took two car loads of stuff off to the dump. I reopened my Pier One Imports charge card and purchased new rugs for in front of the kitchen sink and both restrooms. I got a new table runner and replaced the curtains that separate the kitchen from the entryway and living room. It really lightened up the place! The old ones looked good in the last place I lived in but they were way to heavy and dark here. Our ceilings are only around 8 feet and the rooms are small that the heavy goth look just has to change. I have a vision of 'Cottage Goth' but it will take time. We hung up a curtain to be a 'door' over the entrance to the upstairs closet space so it doesn't look junky. I have one to put over the entry way to the 'Crows Nest' room that one of the retreatents will be sleeping in to give her some privacy. I can't hang it up yet as it does cut off the air flow to the rest of the upstairs and it will get way to warm.
We put the old folding chairs out on the deck for people to enjoy. They are kinda dirty but they are there.
I picked up more food. WHY? I have no idea. OK I do know. I have this urge to feed the whole world so I start with those around me. Yet for some reason I try to live on a 1200 (or less) calorie a day diet myself. I am completely nutts of course.
OH yes, I have four new cereal bowls so we don't have to eat in shifts.
I wish I had time to paint the bathrooms and the chapel before the retreat starts. Oh well. However! I have a new red altar frontal! The chapel looks great!!! Why did I make new white vestments when we are in the red season during retreat? h well, I will wear the white and and use the red stole and chalice veil. It will be fine.
M+
I feel so much better.
I do apologize for my rambling post last evening. It was meant as a way for me to express my relief that I had taken a step back and was breathing and relaxing now after stressing for a week only to come across as more stress.
Sorry 'bout that.
My husband and I spent the day putting some finish touches on the cottage prior to Gnostic Retreat '08. He cleaned the garage out and we took two car loads of stuff off to the dump. I reopened my Pier One Imports charge card and purchased new rugs for in front of the kitchen sink and both restrooms. I got a new table runner and replaced the curtains that separate the kitchen from the entryway and living room. It really lightened up the place! The old ones looked good in the last place I lived in but they were way to heavy and dark here. Our ceilings are only around 8 feet and the rooms are small that the heavy goth look just has to change. I have a vision of 'Cottage Goth' but it will take time. We hung up a curtain to be a 'door' over the entrance to the upstairs closet space so it doesn't look junky. I have one to put over the entry way to the 'Crows Nest' room that one of the retreatents will be sleeping in to give her some privacy. I can't hang it up yet as it does cut off the air flow to the rest of the upstairs and it will get way to warm.
We put the old folding chairs out on the deck for people to enjoy. They are kinda dirty but they are there.
I picked up more food. WHY? I have no idea. OK I do know. I have this urge to feed the whole world so I start with those around me. Yet for some reason I try to live on a 1200 (or less) calorie a day diet myself. I am completely nutts of course.
OH yes, I have four new cereal bowls so we don't have to eat in shifts.
I wish I had time to paint the bathrooms and the chapel before the retreat starts. Oh well. However! I have a new red altar frontal! The chapel looks great!!! Why did I make new white vestments when we are in the red season during retreat? h well, I will wear the white and and use the red stole and chalice veil. It will be fine.
M+
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