August 6th - Mother Nature

Today Sarah talks Mother Nature. 

She starts off by telling us about her friend from the city, 

who had no nature around her.

But she did have an alley behind her home, 

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a rough neighborhood where prostitutes, drug dealers, the homeless, 

and the mentally abandoned...urinate on her steps, throw liquor bottles at pets, mug, and murder.

Repeated efforts to clean up her alley have been 

unsuccessful and discouraging...

[until she] created a beautiful English butterfly garden 

next to her steps leading to the alley.

Her tiny garden

- a four foot triangle -

is abundant with gorgeous flowers and plants 

that attract hundreds of exquisite butterflies.

The garden has also attracted her street neighbors,

who will often come to spend a few quiet moments 

glimpsing the only nature available to them. 

Now the alley is kept spotless as a pathway 

to the garden by those who used to trash it...

When [she] looks out her window and watches the people 

she felt so estranged from before, she feels good 

about bringing some beauty into their lives. 

It's a gentle but powerful reminder of "biophilia"...

[What is biophilia you ask?]

Biophilia is the...psychological theory championed by 

Pultzer Prize-winning conservation biologist Edward O. Wilson,

who believes our biophilial urges

- the "love of living things" -

plants, wildlife and the great outdoors is genetic,

encoded in human beings to ensure 

balance, harmony, and preservation. 

"Attraction to natural environments is not simply a cultural phenomenon," 

Dr. Wilson explains. "There is evidence it is a deeper, biological urge." ...

If we are to thrive today, becoming one with nature is...essential...

When we follow our instincts to leave the city for 

a weekend in the country,

garden in the early morning, 

opt for a picnic in the park instead of a restaurant lunch, 

hang up a bird feeder,

visit the zoo,

or adopt a stray animal, 

we are responding positively to 

physiological and psychological urges 

to connect for survival...

When we honor this holy hunger by getting in tune with nature,

we experience personal harmony. 

Today you may not be able to spend a day completely outdoors, 

but you can soothe away stress by letting Mother Nature nurture. 

Take off your shoes. Feel the earth beneath your feet.

Bend over a blossom and breathe in the fragrance.

Lie under a tree and look up at the sky through the branches.

Give it a few moments.

Now how do you feel?

Mother does know best.

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That probably explains my feeling of loss over my roses.

I seriously feel like I've lost my friends. 

I've lost someone I was supposed to take care of. 

I was gone for a week on vacation, and my cousin was house and dog sitting watered them, but apparently it wasn't enough.

There was an intense heat that week, and I came home to the soil being dry as a bone and the leaves wrinkled and brown.

Today I cut off all the dead stuff, like I did last time, 

and I hope and pray they come back. 

But I'm scared. 

This time there is no new growth anywhere. 

I do not have a green thumb.

I have no idea how to take care of roses. 

But I hope if I keep trying they'll come back. 

But there is one plant that I haven't killed. 

It's only been 8 months, but I'm hopeful.

This is Red. 

She hangs out inside by the kitchen window. 

Her leaves grow, and then die and fall out,

and new ones come in their places. 

She's an amaryllis. 

My friend gave her to me when my sister died. 

My kids killed my geraniums. 

But they're sturdy little things, they're coming back by golly. 

The house plant that someone gave me though, 

I don't remember what it was called, 

it went outside so that my kids would stop trying to tear that one apart, 

and it died too. 

My bulbs are dormant,

but my succulent has thrived all year.

I killed my last philodendron, 

but here is the one my grandma gave me.

Her name is Philly.

Note to self: do not repot. Ever.

And of course I have plans for a garden 

in the back yard and front yard. 

And some native desert grasses in the front yard.

And some potted fruit trees.

And my kitchen window garden.

I have plenty of anecdotal evidence that biophilia 

is alive and kicking, in all of us.

That's why we buy flowers for people.

If I were you, 

I'd let Mother Nature

do a little more nurturing. 

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Gratitude Journal

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1) Restful Sunday. Robbie slept all morning, and then  I went to take a nap, and then slept all through church. Whoops. Robbie didn't have the heart to wake me. Apparently I needed the sleep.

2) Cuddling and taking care of the kids. Getting the kids down for naps, lots of naps, morning and afternoon naps...they're angels when they're sleeping, and bears when they're tired. 

3) Plants.

4) Dogs. We have a great dog. We were all cuddling together, and using Indy as a pillow, and she was just chill with all of us on top of  and beside her.

5) Robbie. He is so good with computers and being organized, I would go crazy without him.