Flattered!

I'm SO excited! I found 2 new plant species growing in my cove that hadn't been there before. How lucky is that! Both are natives (of course!). I feel incredibly flattered by this 'progress,' since in my mind, it means I'm providing good conditions and habitat for them. I tell myself that my cleanly weeded and maintained shore have made it possible for these good plants to find a foothold. There's nothing like self-praise!

The American Bur-reed is new to me, and I had to use my field guides to help me identify it. It's known to be eaten by muskrats, and wildfowl, and is great for native pollinators, too. Plus .... it's an important conservation species because it can help reduce the amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus in lake bodies. And, it's quite beautiful - what's not to love? 

The other plant, the Bayonet Rush, is known to me from other parts of our lake, but this is the first time I've seen it in my cove. There are only 2 stems standing right now, but I'm hoping it will become a bigger clump over time. It provides great shelter and protection for wildlife in shallow areas. It's often overlooked as just another grass, but the color gradation on the stems are quite startling in the Fall, as you can see from the pic below:

Zen ...

I'm almost finished reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'. It's an old book, published in 1974. It was on the 'recommended' reading list during our "Concepts" course at University in 1982. I started reading it like a good student, but couldn't quite 'get into' it, so put it aside early on. I picked it up again a few weeks ago, off my bookshelf - and now I'm close to the end! What a difference some life experience makes!

There's nothing really new in that book now - the ideas seem to have become part of the mainstream, or at least common knowledge to the mainstream. Not surprising, since the ideas are 46 years old. Though it no longer has that 'wow' factor, it's still worth a read - it likens taking care of our bodies and minds to that of taking care of the external and internal workings of a motorcycle, and shows that you can't focus on only one aspect if you wish it to function well for a long time.

The following quotes spoke to me. The first, for reminding us to look closer, open our minds, and to acknowledge blockages, and the second, for reminding us of the value of regular practice to get better at something (I had writing in mind):

"If you're plagued with value rigidity you can fail to see the real answer even when its staring you right in the face because you can't see the new answer's importance." (p 311)

"If you're a sloppy thinker the six days of the week that you aren't working on your machine, what ... can make you all of a sudden sharp on the seventh?" (p 325). Practice, practice, practice. And then practice some more!

A Day in Vacationland

Today's weather was wonderful - so wonderful, in fact, that I was drawn outside right after breakfast, and have only just now sat down at my computer and it's almost bedtime. Huh! So much for yesterday's discipline and BICHOK wisdom!

I've discovered that in weather like this, lakefront residents need 3 swimsuits to get through the day ... in case you were wondering.

This haiku popped up in my head on the stroll to the mailbox:

Pine needle tidemarks

 along the roadside edges:

 a story of rain.

Tonight's Al Fresco dinner was accompanied by a young raccoon foraging in the yard, and an incredible display of fireflies in the darkening woods. Wow! It was gorgeous. 

Is this really my life? I'm pinching myself.

Fern shadow

Tall Meadow Rue reaching for the light

 

BICHOK-king

It's been almost 3 weeks since I took a step back from Facebook. I open the App most days, and scroll through posts, without engaging. It feels like a strange and weird thing to do - sort of voyeuristic in a sense. It does feel odd not to comment on friends' posts, but the less I comment, the less interesting and time-consuming it becomes. DUH! I'm getting to the point where my distancing from it doesn't feel like a loss, and I foresee a time when I won't even be viewing it regularly.

I can see now that I was using Facebook as a sink, a procrastination mechanism, for not getting down to more constructive and creative things I could have been doing with my time - like writing! Now I'm turning my Facebook soundbites into more coherent thoughts, and find myself eager and willing to practice writing, using my friend Shelley's recommended BICHOK method:

Butt In Chair Hands On Keyboard

It works! Seriously. It's got to the point that I look forward to going upstairs to my desk, right after my coffee each morning, to write. And then before I know it, it's lunch time, and I don't want to tear myself away. Isn't that amazing?

It's the same as learning to get better at an instrument, or a sport - you have to practice, and regularly. Daily. If you don't get in the water, you won't learn how to swim. You've got to get your feet wet, at the very least. Every single published author's advice to aspiring writers is to sit down and write, to practice, to DO it.

Practice always seems like a grind, doesn't it? We often seem to have an unrealistic expectation of a great outcome, without wanting to put in loads of work and effort. Instant gratification is not a factor when you're learning a craft - the rewards and gratification are distant, and take time. I'm not good at that kind of discipline. I recall that my Mom gave up piano lessons as a youth because she didn't like practicing and learning her scales. She had a natural gift for music, and just needed some training and guidance. As an adult, she expressed regret that she had given it up. Sometimes we just have to grit our teeth and keep going, or writing, as the case may be. 

The DOING needs to be the gratification, the aspiring and learning the reward. I'm working on it.