Back to School

Classes start back today for the summer session at Hollins. I will be taking Politics in Literature, and we will be reading such stories as Dante's Inferno, Return of the King (Lord of the Rings), Animal Farm, and King Lear. I have no idea yet how many papers, etc., will be required of me, but I am sure there will be a few.

Summer classes run for six weeks, and so I will be attending class twice a week, for a total of six hours of class time a week. Doubling up, as it were.

I am a nerd, and so I am looking forward to being back on campus. I could do without the heat, but at least Pleasants, the hall where my class will be held, is air conditioned now. I can remember when it wasn't, those many years ago when I was an undergrad.

Last night I transplanted squash and cucumbers from a flower pot into the garden. I had performed a little experiment and the results were in. I had planted squash in the garden and in the flower pot on the same day, curious to see what happened.

The squash in the garden grew and grew, and the plants are tall and hardy. After a little rain this weekend, they are even taller. I expect them to bloom soon.

The squash in the flower pot were very small, looking very much like they'd only been growing a week or two. They were yellowing, also. The plants in the garden were nearly a foot taller. Obviously the potting soil lacked an essential nutrient, magnesium or something. So I ended my experiment and moved the sickly looking plants to the garden. I hope they live.

I had also planted an old pack of wildflower seeds in a pot and set it out. The plants came up okay, but when they reached the height of about two inches, some naughty deer click-clicked its way onto the deck and ate them.

I suppose it could have been a very tall rabbit. But in any event, the seedlings were chomped off.

So after I transplanted the squash, and added a pepper plant and a cherry tomato to our little garden, I planted annuals in the flower pots.

I love the feel and smell of soil. Is there anything more primal? The aroma fills the nose and seems to seep right down into the soul. Grounding me, pulling me back toward Mother Nature and the Good Earth and into total recall of a time when I ran barefoot and played in the rain.

This is the joy of creation, and then the joy of looking at the creation, of seeing the lively colored pots overflowing with oranges, pinks, whites and yellows as they are filled with flowers. Zinnias and petunias, nasturtiums and pepper jacks, names so bouncy and vivid that one wonders who comes up with such labels. 

An evening's work, to be enjoyed all summer, and into the fall.