Report From PIA – October 13
I really thought that this post would be about fall color…I took photos and organized my thoughts about late-season foliage. But life intervened, and here I am, blogging about endings and beginnings.
These three things happened today:
1. I picked the last two tomatoes I’m likely to eat from this season’s garden. They are blighted with rotten spots, and not quite ripe, but I’m hoping to salvage a small part that is good so that in a day or two, I can have buttered toast and garden tomato for breakfast. It’s my favorite way to start the morning in the growing season. Sigh.
2. I submitted an idea to an online magazine, and the editor asked for details. Great hope and excitement! I sent a few thoughts off with optimism and good cheer, only to hear later that he thought that they’d already covered these topics. My spirits plummeted, and I wondered if I’ve ever had any new ideas or thoughts that are worth anything at all. Sigh.
3. My husband and I dragged many plants inside tonight. We are probably at least a couple weeks away from a hard frost, but in order to be safe, the Mayer lemons, ginger, begonias, and all succulents came indoors for their winter rest. Tomorrow the epiphyllums will follow. As I put them in place, I appreciate how great they look now. They’ll be alive, but those same begonias will be Begonia prettypathetica by next spring. Sigh.
I wonder how to balance these events. I know that endings are also beginnings, that a winter’s dormant period is followed by renewed growth in spring, and I truly believe that it’s better to propose a project and be rejected than not to submit it at all. At the same time I’m sighing because things in the garden are shutting down, I have no idea if the work I want to do will progress or not, and winter is almost here.
Life has its rotten spots. Nevertheless, I’m determined to focus on, and try to salvage, those parts that are good.
Fall color and photos tomorrow, God willing.