And when at last I’ve found you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
For the things you do
Endear you to me
Ah, you know I will
I will
– Lennon and McCartney
Category Archives: Quotes
“Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree,
Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes–
Some have gotten broken–and carrying them up into the attic.
The holly and mistletoe must be taken down and burnt,
And the children got ready for school. There are enough
Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week–
Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,
Stayed up so late, attempted–quite unsuccessfully–
To love all of our relatives, and in general
Grossly overestimated our powers. Once again
As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed
To do more than entertain it as an agreeable
Possibility, once again we have sent Him away,
Begging though to remain His disobedient servant,
The promising child who cannot keep his word for long.”
– W.H. Auden For the Time Being
Il faut cultiver notre jardin
I haven’t been up to posting much lately — such a busy weekend with the Revels yard sale, a Saturday night cook-out with friends, choir and a Revels troupe appearance at Billings Farm on Sunday. And surprise! We forgot we scheduled a renaissance choral practice on Monday. Oh, and I bought a new old violin — but that’s for another day.
Then Dave’s sister arrived for a short visit and I landed flat on my back with a cold and (oh, the indignity!) conjunctivitis. I’m getting better. I can open my eyes again, but now I have a lingering cough. Woe is me and all that. Dave and Cherie had a great visit. They talked, canoed and kayaked. I slept.
Today was a disappointment. Dave saw his daughters for the first time in over a year. His report of the meeting wasn’t encouraging. I haven’t written about the situation before now because it is heartbreaking. It’s pretty hard to discuss without starting to analyze and explain, and sometimes that just doesn’t help. It all degenerates into “she said, he said” stuff that won’t resolve anything. Right now it feels like all the moves available to us are wrong ones and we can’t ever make it right.
So … that leaves me with the title of this post, a quote from Voltaire’s “Candide”:
We must each cultivate our own garden.
I can’t do anything to fix this situation right now. All I can do is take care of my own little patch, tend to those I love, take care of myself, and look for where I can be of use in the world. As my former yoga teacher, Stephanie, used to say “All you have to do is show up, be yourself, and share your gifts.”