Moving, Garden

Me and the boys are moved into our new place. We live in the 05 now, and we’re pretty pumped to be right in the middle of things.

We live right smack in the middle of a bunch of parishioners, and we’re hatching plans to do our own version of 12^th Street Live over on our side. My new goal: convince as many people as possible to move to different streets. Then, there’d be a party every night somewhere…

John and Joe will start school at Arlington Elementary, right across the street from the church. Steve and I were playing no limit Texas Hold’em two Fridays ago. He was out of money and had to put Steffi on the table. He lost, and now she is stuck being our nanny. The boys will definitely appreciate the stability of having her to get them on the days I can’t.

The Garden Tour was a huge success. Close to 60 people, I’d say. We saw different types of gardens: art gardens, small gardens at a neighborhood center, a really nice one at the Senior Citizen’s Center. I am partial to ours, a very practical one—that is to say, a very Methodist one! I think we made connections with a group of people who can help us with the next phase of this work: turning the gardens over to the people of the community, for them to grow their own food.

Last night, we spent a wonderful time in the garden behind Arlington and on Price Avenue. Curtis, Paul and Venus, Maggie, Jessica, Christy, Lee and Beth, Dan and Marian, Alice and Brent and Andrew, and John, Joe, and I were pickin’ and grinnin’. The beans may be worn out, but that’s ok, we got a lot out of them. The tomatoes are coming on and corn will be ready in a few days. We had a load in Paul’s truck, and I am scared to see what First Church will bring in tomorrow… I think everyone was happy to work together, to see how much came out of there.

Like I keep saying, something good and right comes out of working in a garden. Sometimes it’s giving each other a hard time (esp about my theory of weeding. But, as I predicted, the drought isn’t bothering us because the weeds keep the ground wet...) Sometimes it’s just forging a simple but durable connection over basic work. Location and fidelity are vital to our life together, but those two things cannot be taken for granted in human relationships, especially in our rootless culture (ah, “rootless culture;” you can see that such a thing is a recipe for disaster!) A fair amount of our experience tells us that we can avoid needing each other. (Dorothy Day has a phrase for this ability/proclivity to separate: “the long loneliness.” It’s the title of her autobiography. I just finished it and heartily recommend it). No, there has to be some practice, some constancy, some unconsciously paying attention to voices and hands. Just as in regular prayer together, we get to know each other’s hearts, so in regular work together, we get pulled into each other’s lives.

3 people from the community came out and picked, too.