Paradise Puzzling

Paradise Puzzling

Every day this week as I round the corner at the Kingshill PO, on the sidewalk I've seen a 3" square cardboard puzzle piece. I'm either looking at the back of it or it is blank, waiting for someone to project whatever they believe is missing before attempting to jimmy it into their already full life.  Pardon the metaphorical extrapolation--I'm sure I'm just seeing the back side.  

Two things are obvious:

 This object has set my mental gears to whirring & grinding, &

They must never sweep the sidewalk at the Post Office. 

Not packing a broom (though I do keep trash bags in my car when I'm beaching it daily, to do a quick pick up before my swim), I'm left with grinding gears. For mental exercise I've been thinking of what that missing puzzle piece might be for me.  

First I tried assessing the question from an outsider's perspective. Looking out-to-in, what appears to be missing?

I suppose relationships would be the obvious answer?  Yes I have an amazing Mom (who I wish I saw much more, but she is happy & healthy where she is & we communicate by some means everyday, so I'm  not too troubled by the distance between)  & wonderful friends, but when I lock my door at night there are six feet & 2 snores on the inside. Actually, Mu doesn't snore. So 6 feet (4 of which are ridiculously furry) & 1 snore inside. That hasn't always been the count, & higher foot-count years were definitely not all bad.  But for now, 6 feet & no longing for more, at least not by me. You can ask Mu yourself. 

So if not people, how about things & stuff?  Shiny stuff. New & pretty stuff....

NOPE. Lately I'm on a two-pronged mission regarding possessions & spaces. We're still at that luxurious place when the ship-less summer stretches long & languid ahead. My natural bent is to believe I'll have time to accomplish many projects, as I've mentioned in previous posts. This year I'm trying on a 'design-for-use' theme instead. Economize & mobilize to utilize is my new mantra (don't think that's ever going to catch on, but so be it).  

The 'Lawn-to Living Space' goals are a good example. Despite all the fruit trees, the pineapple beds & the orchids, I still have a lot of sloping lawn...that while I don't water still sucks up some resources in the form of having to hire bush whacking guys to mow & trim.  When I bought Mumuland in 2008 I knew I wouldn't have 1/2 acre of rolling grass lawn. Not my goal--not my thing.

 I wanted the large lot either to build or to grow. Six feet & one snore don't really merit a build in the classic definition, so grow it is.  The back yard has evolved into a growing build or a building grow, depending on perspective. And evolved is the right choice of word. 

I took horticulture one summer at Mary Baldwin College in Stanton, VA, so I know how to make a garden plan, in color & to scale, with legends & everything.  I like garden plans.  I admire their tidy ambitions.  I just never follow them. I could, but I rebel at a piece of paper with a plastic overlay bossing me around. 

Instead, I love fecund, messy, spilling-full gardens with surprises.  Don't show me everything at once.  Let me explore. Give me places to watch the stars...to drink my morning coffee or have my evening meal...to be well-hidden enough to get completely lost in a book...or find myself in music...to watch happy Mu chase lizards. 

And it's working. Right now I'm sitting out in the startlingly bright moonlight, listening to the 'plooking' frog sounds, drinking iced coffee & dreaming what the next secret garden area will be like.  Will the sound of large cardboard-textured palm fronds clatter overhead?  Will I finally find the perfect clappers for my little cast iron wren-shaped bells & hear their faint chimes?  Perhaps the breeze will carry the fragrance of sun-warmed rosemary, or heady night blooming cereus, or an unassuming looking, but delicately scented orchid.  

Seems the puzzle piece wasn't for me. I'm not lacking anything, just happy working the puzzle. And blowing bubbles for Mu to chase in the moonlight.  Goodnight!