Extruding Ice

 

We hiked on a wet hillside on a 33 degree day, and ice crunched underfoot. The water had frozen into ribbons of ice called extrusions. Water, which would normally be in the ground, expanded as it froze and "grew" or extruded out of the ground. Continued water seepage underground forces the extrusions up above the soil and leaf litter.

It looks like i'm hiking on crystals. It sounds very crunchy.

An oft-repeated behavior--gesture or word or thought--crystalizes into a habit. The habit hardens into our character and becomes our personality. That's who we think we are. By the time we're old, our personality can be downright crunchy. Perhaps you know someone like this.

Let the water flow through your life. Let Life flow through your life.

Black Lace Elderberry

This week, the plant i'm in love with is Black Lace Elderberry with its creamy pink flowers.

A few years ago, i gave up gardening on one of my hillside gardens. Of course, i didn't exactly give it up altogether. I planted shrubs, so i could let the understory do whatever it wants.

I placed the dark burgundy foliage of Black Lace next to the chartreuse foliage of physocarpus, aka nine-bark. The effect is spectacular. And i don't have to do anything. I'm not weeding in there.

This is the benefit of renunciation. In this case, less gardening is more pleasure. Beautiful.

The View of Hillside Plantings

I emailed Perennial Swappers and told them to come over and rummage through the piles of plants that used to grow on my east hillside.

Annamarie loaded up her station wagon. She was thrilled to take the spreaders for her south-facing hillside. All i saw was the amount of digging she was going to have to do, and, knowing her hillside tangle, i had my doubts.

These 2 perspectives (hers and mine) are examples of our views, and Right View is the first step on the Noble 8-fold Path.

My view that she had a LOT of work in front of her caused me dismay, and that is obviously a form of suffering. At the same time i was happy that the plants were finding a second home. This generous view causes happiness (and not suffering).

Like Annamarie, i have my own thrilling plans for my now-bare hillside. My doubt about her following through on all that planting is actually me projecting my doubts about myself onto her. (Tricky, isn't it? But how convenient!)

Yesterday i stopped at Annamarie's, and she proudly pointed out her new hillside plantings. It had taken her a couple of hours, but she did it. And it's a great view from her living room window.