Watching the Wheels (John Lennon and Yoko Ono)

Such a great birthday yesterday; I hit the ground running in the local community outreach garden, which I have committed to do once a week.  It kicked my *ss, but in the best possible way; I was dirty but happy (and delighted to wear a pair of the adorable gardening gloves Melanie sent... 😍 )

Chico and Rob took me out for lunch (Pollo Tropical has a vegan wrap - yum!).  Came home, showered, napped, then headed to Sarah and Colin's for an early dinner from Parlour Vegan (and Eric surprised me there, when I thought he had to work!).

Was delighted by the plethora of phone calls, texts, e-mails, gifts, and thoughtfulness in general all day from family and friends near and far.  I remain grateful for my support circle, which is sometimes a parallelogram, which is perfectly fine as well... 💞  

Lower back.  Ouch!  Upper hamstrings.  Eek!  More stretching in my future so I can kick the garden's *ss this time, instead of the other way around... 😁

It is indeed Feel Good Friday and, as is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy! 

~ The 2021 Met Gala Is Going Plant-Based—Here’s Why:  Yes, people eat at the Met Gala. And this year, for the first time ever, the chef-curated menu will be 100% plant-based.

~ So Many Tchotchkes, So Little Time:  Instagram stores that specialize in knickknacks are booming. Blame the pandemic.

~ ‘Wicked’ Hits the Road, Carrying the Hopes of Broadway Tours:  The production, which starts Tuesday in Dallas, is the first Broadway tour back onstage, a test as American theaters seek to rebound from the pandemic shutdown.

~ Our Buy Nothing Project Mission:  We offer people a way to give and receive, share, lend, and express gratitude through a worldwide network of hyper-local gift economies in which the true wealth is the web of connections formed between people who are real-life neighbors. (thanks and love to Michele for the heads-up to this wonderful project... ❤ )

~ The Extraordinary Presence of Frida Kahlo

SONG:  Watching the Wheels by John Lennon and Yoko Ono

BOOK:  Great Quotes For Gardeners: Reflection, Inspiration, And Some Humor For Those Who Love Gardens by Craig Hlas

POEM:  I Would Like by Jane Hirshfield

I would like

my living to inhabit me

the way

rain, sun, and their wanting

inhabit a fig or apple.

I would like to meet it

also in pieces,

scattered:

a conversation set down

on a long hallway table;

a disappointment

pocketed inside a jacket;

some long-ago longing glimpsed,

half-recognized,

in the corner of a thrift store painting.

To discover my happiness,

walking first

toward

then away from me

down a stairwell,

on two strong legs all its own.

Also,

the uncountable

wheat stalks,

how many times broken,

beaten, sent

between grindstones,

before entering

the marriage

of oven and bread—

Let me find my life in that, too.

In my moments

of clumsiness, solitude;

in days of vertigo and hesitation;

in the many year-ends

that found me

standing on top of a stovetop

to take down a track light.

In my nights’ asked,

sometimes answered, questions.

I would like

to add to my life,

while we are still living,

a little salt and butter,

one more slice of the edible apple,

a teaspoon of jam

from the long-simmered fig.

To taste

as if something tasted for the first time

what we will have become then.

QUOTE:  "First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." ~ Epictetus