Day 76 of 365
I didn’t work on the print annual nearly enough today, but I did something magnificent. I went to see a dear friend who has a camp house on the water, and it was all so good for my soul. She is a wonderful, wise human, as is her husband, and I loved talking with both of them. And they were so kind to invite us to swim in the beautiful pond behind the house on this hot day.
I cannot even begin to describe how magnificent the water felt on my body. When I put my head under the water, it felt like, for a few moments, I was escaping the worry of the whole world. In the water amongst the tall trees, I thought this must have been what Thoreau felt like when he wrote about the joy of being in Walden pond. Everything about me felt just…quenched.
The whole afternoon lifted my spirits so much. I am almost always in a pretty good mood, but I have been pretty grumpy in the heat. I left my grumpy mood behind completely when I was in the water. I also met a magnificent old pine tree and took it’s picture. Isn’t it just majestic? Don’t you know that tree knows some stuff?
But, tonight, when I got home to get to work on my grading, I skimmed Facebook and came upon a thread in one of the farming and gardening groups I follow about heat and drought this year. Someone in Texas made a post about losing their garden and having a nightmare of a time trying to keep their cows watered and fed. In response, there was post after post after post from people from all over the country telling similar stories. They lost their whole gardens. Their wells were dry. They had to move their animals to keep them watered. One woman told a story that she had six tomatoes, out of her whole garden, that made it. It was a devastating year. But, on top of this, her little girl decided to mark some X’s in the tomato skins with a knife, and the tomatoes went bad. The woman said she sat and cried over her six lost tomatoes.
Ron has worked so, so hard this year to keep our garden alive. It’s so hot and has rained so little. His days are spent hand watering everything. I know it’s so hard. I know he worries about the well.
When I read the posts, I felt the worries of the world come flooding back into my body, and my heart felt heavy.
I want to go back to the pond.
Farmer-ish 