August 21 - August 25 The World Begins to Quiet

2010-I hear on the radio this morning that the genetic code for wheat is 5x longer than the human.  What if plants are the superior beings?   I imagine a world where the humans act for the maintenance and betterment of the superior vegetable world and are rewarded with the harvest.  Perhaps that’s how it  once was.  Perhaps it is even true.  We imagine angels in human form but perhaps they look like flowers and seeds and waving grass. 
Why do people feel so much better out in nature?  Isn’t it the same way they feel in the presence of the so-called enlightened beings?  How would a person live if they took this to be true?
2011-I have been feeling a little differently this summer; something implacable/impersonal in nature. There is an element of fear in it and the sense of horror of nature torn from its cycles in the extremes we’ve been experiencing--extremes of water and of heat, an earthquake, and now the biggest hurricane in 70 years headed up the coast for us. Extremes of drought and heat in other places, hundred year floods; are humans responsible or is it just a bigger cycle?
The garden has been disappointing this year-very few potatoes and blighted, few tomatoes and half rotten, few peppers, more eggplants than ever (but that’s not saying much). The collards look good but even the kale is small and peaked. The cardoons barely grew-most of them died away. No fava to speak of but good broccoli and onions, lots of little pumpkins early and promising Brussels sprouts.  But even the patty pans are flowering but producing very little. I had been thinking about living from the garden but it is very humbling.
2012-My not very effective binoculars turn astonishing when I point them at the Pleiades. A blurry little spot resolves into a tight little clump of clearly visible stars.
2013-Even though it’s still August, the words of ‘September Song’ keep running through my head.  “Oh the days dwindle down to a precious few…” So I feel about summer’s end. In an attempt to slow down time, I am not listening to the radio (again) at all as I go about my daily activities, inviting time to hang heavy on my hands so as to feel every second. I immediately notice the constant background music of shrill cicada calls and that hummingbird buzzing actually sounds exactly like a cat’s purr. I think when all is over, I won’t regret anything left undone, but I will be sorry for every minute I was not fully present.