Creating Reality

Wednesday, June 18, 2003

A rainy morning, thank heavens. There's been a drought here for three years or so and, while this modest shower does nothing to change that, wild water is most welcome to me. I always feel guilty dragging a garden hose behind me. I know this is a desert, and that my little "terraforming" projects aren't normal in whatever slum I've scratched out the lastest garden.

But the pumpkin flowers are radiant. A modest, hot pink petunia blooms from seed I planted in, of all things, the drawer of a baby changing table. Next to it, sunflowers open from a paint bucket set inside a wicker waste basket. Gourd vines lash themselves to anything up which they might climb, from a fallen twig to a discarded cigarette butt. Corn stalks stretch luxuriously amid dark red amaranth sprouts.

Basically, everywhere around me that I have to look, something I've planted beams back at me, completely indifferent to my back breaking work, grunting, scabs and sore muscles. But reflecting the effects magnificently.

I've removed the concrete block from in front of the gap in the picket gate so the cats can leave my yard again and go into the empty lot. It's very jungle like out there, and there are infinite spots for languid naps in deep shade. They're camouflaged from detection by hostile neighbors. And it's just too hot most days for more than a long snooze in the cool of the garden beds.

I met a neighbor up on Silver Street, where the affluent home owners live. He noticed my gardening in the empty lot and thinks it's wonderful. He knows my circumstances here: surrounded by hostile, chemically-dependent neighbors. He's disapproving of the management company that operates this property. Apparantly, they're notorious slum lords, "managing" properties all over the city.

Since it's a cool, cloudy, rainy day, I'll stay in and make fairy rag ladies. They're dolls made of shiny, fluffy materials I find here and there. They have hand painted, paper mache faces and hands and are stuffed with rice or beans, depending on size.
I need to sell some of my crafts. I just paid the phone bill; I have $1.85 left 'til the 3rd of next month.

I have 8 gourd bird houses. They have doors hinged in wire with bead door knobs. They're painted to look like cottages with gardens growing 'round them. Each has a little window with a cat looking out. They're quite nice.

I still have herbs and seeds, too. And there's just enough time left in the season to plant seeds.

I also have my "pillow puppets." They're made of old bed linens. They're marionettes, with yarn leading from hands and feet to a dowel and bent coat hanger armature. They have yarn wigs and bead eyes. They stand almost 2 feet tall. If one removes their strings, they actually are decent pillows for napping.

I should do laundry; I've still got one more winter blanket and 2 pillows to do, but I don't want to wet the ground on a rainy day, so I'll wait. Wouldn't want a swamp in my tiny yard.

I'm hoping for a peaceful day, but I never know what shenanigans my neighbors' clouded thinking will bring. So, I'm enjoying it while I can.