Friday, May 31, 2019

Front Yard Gardening Project 431B


The Spirit of Gardening Website


Our Front Yard in Vancouver, Washington
Spring 2019
Front Yard Gardening Projects
Project 431
Karen and Mike Garofalo








"Good work is dignified. It develops your faculties and serves your community.  It is a central human activity.  Work, in this view: makes you honest with yourself, requires that you develop your faculties and skills, empowers you to do what you are really good at and love to do, connects you in a compassionate way with the outside world, supports the philosophy of non-destructiveness and sustainability, and integrates work with personal life and community."-  Roger Pritchard


"Once one knows what really matters, one ceases to be voluble.  And what does really matter?  That is easy: thinking and doing, doing and thinking - and these are the sum of all wisdom.  Both must move ever onward in life, to and fro, like breathing in and breathing out.  Whoever makes it a rule to test action by thought, thought by action, cannot falter, and if he does, will soon find his way back to the right road." -  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe



















Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Outside in a Cool Dream


Outside in a Cool Dream

I yanked off my shirt and toweled off the sweat,
Tossed off my shoes all smelly and wet,
Stretched out my back on the cool tile floor,
Freed from the smoky heat outside the door.


I slipped into dreaming about walking in fog
With mother and brothers in sand we did slog,
Along the spit to Morro Rock one March day,
Relaxed, exhilarated, refreshed, and at play.


We sat on the dunes with the waves in our ears,
And sipped our sweet coffees all in good cheer,
Our toes in the sand, we laughed till we cried,
Then all sat in silence as the years drifted by.


I stirred, awakened, wondered where I could be;
Inside or Outside; a dream, or faded memory.


Michael P. Garofalo,  One Short of a Baker's Dozen


Friday, May 24, 2019

Springtime Spectacular

Yesterday, Karen and I visited Schreiner's Iris Gardens and Adelman Peony Gardens in the northeast Salem and Woodburn areas of Oregon.  The rural farm areas of the Willamette Valley are all lush green this time of year.  We drove back by 99E through Canby into Oregon City.  A delightful adventure.









Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Front Yard Gardening


We have been slowly making improvements and expanding our front yard garden area.