2020 Life Logs, Day 157: Inch by Inch, Row by Row
Date: Saturday, June 6, 2020
Weather: Dibble Dops of Rain Here and There; High 72, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Among the many ‘treasures’ in my basement is a song chart of The Garden Song. It has been sung by Pete Seeger, by Peter, Paul and Mary, John Denver, and every first grader I ever taught. Tonight I went down to the basement to dig that chart out and have a moment of remembrance with it as during the day today, I thought of it often.
“Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow. All it takes is a rake and hoe and piece of fertile ground. Inch by inch, row by row, someone bless these seeds I sow. Someone warm them from below ‘til the rain comes tumbling down.” I thought of it this morning as I read more of Ta’Hanisi Coates book, Between the World and Me. I thought of all of the protesters out on the streets around this country. I wish the change to total racial equality could happen faster, but it seems to move inch by inch, row by row. But at least it is does seem to be moving now. Then I thought of the song as I worked in the garden. I seem to be moving at the speed of a snail this year, but I am making progress.
I was particularly proud of getting the bean tower restrung. I have two bean towers that have been in Heather’s garden for the past few years. It is a tall circular structure with vertical stringers for pole beans to run up. The last time these were strung it was done by Mark. I don’t remember if it was in 2015 or 2016, but they were definitely in need of being restrung. I was convinced that it was a difficult task, but it wasn’t. I got one done today and will do the other one in the next day or so. Again, it’s that old “inch by inch” mentality . . . a little bit at a time. The raised beds are partially planted and the area Jed cleared for me to turn into a tomato patch got three more tomatoes planted today. I hope to double that tomorrow, maybe even triple the number. Progress is being made.
This afternoon, just as I was thinking of driving over to the Goldstones to pick up some packages I got a text from Heather telling me that Ollie has a temperature. Normally that would not be earth shattering news, but in these days of the coronavirus, it is scary. The pediatrician is saying no problem. Lots of kids are experiencing a virus of some sort right now. But my question, as well as Heather’s, is what kind of virus? They are not testing, so they have no idea if it is coronavirus. Hopefully, whatever Ollie has is just a run of the mill virus. But to be on the safe side, I will keep a distance for a few days. I did go over this afternoon and took some Outshine juice popsicles for Ollie to share with his brothers. And one of the packages that had been delivered were dive booties for Ollie and Jonah, so I left those for them. I visited by being on the back deck while Ollie was inside. And I wore a mask. I will really miss being with the Goldpebbles for a couple of days, but best to be careful.
I’ll end with a quote from the book by Ta’Nehisi Coates’ book that I am reading that left me in tears this morning. The whole book is a letter form Ta’Nehisi to his 15-year-old son. “You have to make your peace with the chaos, but you cannot lie. You cannot forget how much they took from us and how they transfigured our very bodies into sugar, tobacco, cotton, and gold.” So true, so sad.
