It's springtime! Spring, the dog, insists that it's her time of year. She always insists that it's about her, though, so maybe this is just more of her nonsense. But with a name like Spring...
TheLion helped me prioritize my back yard gardening plans. The fiery-burny thing to rid the yard of its detritus is primary. I was going to wait to have a big ol' burn party, but I probably have enough wood to last for several of those. Thus, I began burning the most annoying, scraggly bits today.
A private little smoky party for the delicate flower who can no longer bear the distraction of so much scrubby wood in the yard.
I tried to be clever about my fire and build a little pit so that I'd only disturb a small part of the lawn. Unfortunately, as BrilliantEditor pointed out, I built my fire ring on top of the drainage pipe, which is plastic; I had to move it. Now there is a much larger hole in the lawn. La dee da, but it's all okay.
I put on my grubby garden clothes. The jeans already have muddy knees. I built my fire and tended it and then went over to the house to read and write a bit while the fire was burning without needing immediate supervision.
I started sneezing and snorflng and my nose was running and ewwwww. I recalled, "Oh! I forgot! I'm allergic to wood smoke! And it's in my hair and my clothes! Ah ha! I must remedy this problem!" Such a delicate flower!
So I cleaned myself up and washed my hair and changed my clothes and went about my day.
Later on, I put my grungy clothes back on and started sneezing and snorfling and my nose was running and ewwwww. I recalled, "Oh! I recall that I recalled that I'm allergic to wood smoke and these clothes smell like wood smoke! I think I'm allergic to them!"
Now I smile at myself. So, in some ways, it would seem that I am the delicate flower that I claim to be. A little wood smoke and, "Oh! Goodness! My fragile little body must revolt!"
However, there were times when I couldn't blow my nose because I was hauling around branches and rocks and compost. What kind of flower is that? Certainly not a delicate one. Perhaps jimson weed. Also called Angel Trumpet and Datura. The seeds are poisonous and cause hallucinations and, I think, paralysis when consumed in very small quantity. In any other quantity they cause death. That's not delicate. But it is a flower. And some people smoke jimson weed. Which comes from a flower. The smoke of which I would most certainly be allergic to. The smoke of which would almost certainly cause this self-same flower to wilt.
Ah! Delicate flower!
Posted by dotty at April 11, 2005 11:25 PM