A Raft of Lemons

I awoke early this morning feeling it was time to start the day. Then I read the kitchen clock — 2:58. So I stretched out on the floor again and slept for what felt like a good solid hour. The clock read 3:31. Ten minutes later, I was out in the street for a run.

A raft of lemons adrift at sea. The funny way you look at me.

Cool nights, warm afternoons. A tender green carpet of wildflower sprouts is rapidly advancing in the garden. I wonder if any will bloom before fall is through. When you see how effortlessly the earth cleanses and restores itself, it’s easy to understand what nonsense it is to think in terms of solutions, especially political ones. We don’t need solutions. We’re on the brink because of them. We need to love our home and everything and everyone in it. And we can’t do that if we think of ourselves as being apart from it and separate from each other, or believe all of this beauty and wonder was given to us to pillage and subdue. Even if it’s too late, even if the damage we’ve caused and continue to cause is irreversible, we can love ourselves into grace; we can discover and move deeper into our full potential.

If you demand logic and practicality, know this: love is the most logical, practical thing there is.

Love is the direct, kindest, most economical route. Don’t discount it just because you’re unwilling to try it. Why are you afraid? Are you afraid you’ll be laughed at and embarrassed?

Visited a farm, where we bought three small, very ornamental gourds, two bell peppers, broccoli, one bunch of Diamond Muscat grapes, several Asian pears, and four kinds of apples: Summerset, Akane, Gala, and Honeycrisp.

Read The Rambler, Numb. 4. Saturday, March 31, 1750.

From The Oxford Book of Aphorisms, 1983: “An intelligent person often talks with his eyes; a shallow man often swallows with his ears.” ‘Mr. Tut-Tut,’ A Night’s Talk, Chinese, 17^th century.

Imagine a letter short and sweet, written on a gravestone;

Imagine writing it, alone — and signing it — in bone.

September 14, 2023.

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