Thrush in the woods

There's nothing like the song of a wood thrush echoing through a tall green forest. I heard one on my walk in Middlesex Fells this morning. It keeps playing over and over in my head.

A poem of place

Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV

By Alexander Pope

...

       To build, to plant, whatever you intend,

To rear the column, or the arch to bend,

To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot;

In all, let Nature never be forgot.

But treat the goddess like a modest fair,

Nor overdress, nor leave her wholly bare;

Let not each beauty ev'rywhere be spied,

Where half the skill is decently to hide.

He gains all points, who pleasingly confounds,

Surprises, varies, and conceals the bounds.

       Consult the genius of the place in all;

That tells the waters or to rise, or fall;

Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale,

Or scoops in circling theatres the vale;

Calls in the country, catches opening glades,

Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades,

Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines;

Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.

       Still follow sense, of ev'ry art the soul,

Parts answ'ring parts shall slide into a whole,

Spontaneous beauties all around advance,

Start ev'n from difficulty, strike from chance;

Nature shall join you; time shall make it grow

A work to wonder at—perhaps a Stowe.
...

Do it yourself

These past few months I've been trying to learn to do some new things with my hands, like knitting and gardening. In the process, I've enlisted the help of Youtube, and just have to say how much I love the videos people make to share their knowledge and love of DIYing. Today I am hoping to transplant my veggie seedlings, so I've been studying up. Here are a couple of my favorites.

I don't really know what it is about it that I love them, except that there's such a variety of people all over the country who are united by a passion for one thing, like how amazing little plants are, and especially how attached you get to them if you start them from the very beginning-- just a simple little seed. I'm experiencing that too. The other thing is that everyone has a slightly different way of doing things, so there really is no one right way. In the end, it all comes down to basics: light, air, water, and soil!