Quote of the Day: Rhyme and Season

 

‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:’ – Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, Verse 1.

This is the nearest I’ve been able to come up with for a quote that reflects something that’s been on my mind a lot lately: It has to do with not getting overly worried if the slugs or snails in the greenhouse plough a swathe through my rudbeckia seedlings. With not letting it get to me if things are, ah, a little behind in the garden, after what felt like a weeks-long stretch of rain and cold in the merry, merry month of May. With, in short, not seeing any one thing that’d be nice as the be-all and end-all of existence at that point in time.

Is this what people sometimes mean by the word ‘zen’, I wonder. Reaching a state where we push on from where we are without letting where we want to be rule over us like a tyrant.

It’s a thought, anyway. Even if one I’m still trying to fathom out along the way.

Ah well, back to the garden I go.

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Whatever it may be called, it’s a gooder place to be.

    • #1
  2. Andrew Miller Member
    Andrew Miller
    @AndrewMiller

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Whatever it may be called, it’s a gooder place to be.

    Give that man a coconut! 

    • #2
  3. She Member
    She
    @She

    Andrew Miller: Is this what people sometimes mean by the word ‘zen’, I wonder. Reaching a state where we push on from where we are without letting where we want to be rule over us like a tyrant.

    Gosh, I hope so!  In my own case, I think age probably has something to do with it too.  In an oddly inverse relationship with the amount of sand remaining in the top of my hourglass, I seem much more patient with bumps in the road, and much more willing to give things time than I used to be.

    ***

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    Another ongoing project to encourage new voices is our Group Writing Project. June’s theme is “Journeys.”  If you’d like to weigh in, please sign up for Group Writing too!

    • #3
  4. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Andrew Miller:

    Is this what people sometimes mean by the word ‘zen’, I wonder. Reaching a state where we push on from where we are without letting where we want to be rule over us like a tyrant.

    It’s a thought, anyway. Even if one I’m still trying to fathom out along the way.

    You are not alone in either the pushing on or the wondering.

    It is the journey not the destination, Grasshopper.

    • #4
  5. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    ~hates it when people misquote the Byrds. 

    • #5
  6. She Member
    She
    @She

    Never mind the rhyme or season,
    This is rife with sense and reason
    Though the poster’s garden’s sluggy
    Though frustration is the game.
    Though less feature-prone than buggy
    Life is still worth taking aim,

    “Like” this merry post I beg you
    Fill the air with comments mild
    For the merits of this website
    And the joys of gardening wild

    Over to you….

     

    • #6
  7. HankRhody Freelance Philosopher Contributor
    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher
    @HankRhody

    Andrew Miller: a weeks-long stretch of rain and cold in the merry, merry month of May.

    In England? Never have I heard of such a thing.

    • #7
  8. Andrew Miller Member
    Andrew Miller
    @AndrewMiller

    Percival (View Comment):

    Andrew Miller:

    Is this what people sometimes mean by the word ‘zen’, I wonder. Reaching a state where we push on from where we are without letting where we want to be rule over us like a tyrant.

    It’s a thought, anyway. Even if one I’m still trying to fathom out along the way.

    You are not alone in either the pushing on or the wondering.

    It is the journey not the destination, Grasshopper.

    And is it not written, ‘let the broom do most of the work […] and remember, a small brush for the corners’? 

    • #8
  9. Andrew Miller Member
    Andrew Miller
    @AndrewMiller

    She (View Comment):

    Never mind the rhyme or season,
    This is rife with sense and reason
    Though the poster’s garden’s sluggy
    Though frustration is the game.
    Though less feature-prone than buggy
    Life is still worth taking aim,

    “Like” this merry post I beg you
    Fill the air with comments mild
    For the merits of this website
    And the joys of gardening wild

    Over to you….

     

    I’m just waiting for an excuse to go to ‘For he is an Englishman!’ 

    • #9
  10. Andrew Miller Member
    Andrew Miller
    @AndrewMiller

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Andrew Miller: a weeks-long stretch of rain and cold in the merry, merry month of May.

    In England? Never have I heard of such a thing.

    I’m afraid I’ve gone and jinxed it — the sun’s shining, it’s hot out, and I’m afraid I won’t get my lovely rainy English summer. 

    • #10
  11. She Member
    She
    @She

    Andrew Miller (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Andrew Miller: a weeks-long stretch of rain and cold in the merry, merry month of May.

    In England? Never have I heard of such a thing.

    I’m afraid I’ve gone and jinxed it — the sun’s shining, it’s hot out, and I’m afraid I won’t get my lovely rainy English summer.

    Early days yet.  Give it a chance….

    • #11
  12. She Member
    She
    @She

    Andrew Miller (View Comment):

    She (View Comment):

    Never mind the rhyme or season,
    This is rife with sense and reason
    Though the poster’s garden’s sluggy
    Though frustration is the game.
    Though less feature-prone than buggy
    Life is still worth taking aim,

    “Like” this merry post I beg you
    Fill the air with comments mild
    For the merits of this website
    And the joys of gardening wild

    Over to you….

     

    I’m just waiting for an excuse to go to ‘For he is an Englishman!’

    Something like this, perhaps:

    For it might have been a Limax
    Cornu aspersum, or Milax
    Or perhaps Tandonia!
    Or perhaps Tandonia!

    But in spite of this ephemera
    And the talk of all these genera
    It remains a garden slug!
    It remains a garden slug!

     

    • #12
  13. Andrew Miller Member
    Andrew Miller
    @AndrewMiller

    She (View Comment):

    Andrew Miller (View Comment):

    She (View Comment):

    Never mind the rhyme or season,
    This is rife with sense and reason
    Though the poster’s garden’s sluggy
    Though frustration is the game.
    Though less feature-prone than buggy
    Life is still worth taking aim,

    “Like” this merry post I beg you
    Fill the air with comments mild
    For the merits of this website
    And the joys of gardening wild

    Over to you….

     

    I’m just waiting for an excuse to go to ‘For he is an Englishman!’

    Something like this, perhaps:

    For it might have been a Limax
    Cornu aspersum, or Milax
    Or perhaps Tandonia!
    Or perhaps Tandonia!

    But in spite of this ephemera
    And the talk of all these genera
    It remains a garden slug!
    It remains a garden slug!

     

    As excuses go, I’ll take it!

    • #13
  14. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Of course the real musical accompaniment to this post should be The Byrds Turn, Turn, Turn, which, except for the words in the title, is almost entirely from the book of Ecclesiastes. (Music by Pete Seeger, Lyrics by King Solomon)

    • #14
  15. Andrew Miller Member
    Andrew Miller
    @AndrewMiller

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Of course the real musical accompaniment to this post should be The Byrds Turn, Turn, Turn, which, except for the words in the title, is almost entirely from the book of Ecclesiastes. (Music by Pete Seeger, Lyrics by King Solomon)

    ’Ere, I’s been producer’d. With such a voice and form as mine, ’twas bound to ’appen. I am resigned. 

    • #15
  16. She Member
    She
    @She

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Of course the real musical accompaniment to this post should be The Byrds Turn, Turn, Turn, which, except for the words in the title, is almost entirely from the book of Ecclesiastes. (Music by Pete Seeger, Lyrics by King Solomon)

    Or even this:

    Anything but Pete Seeger.

    • #16
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