Inspiration/Perspiration Fridays

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Dormant Seeds Lead to New Growth

Ms. Bockle: Well, I’ve kept fairly busy today, finishing up a sewing project that I’d aimed to accomplish last summer. Now that the 8 cushions are all covered, they’re all packed in plastic and stored away for the next hot season—hopefully not next week! One great benefit of getting that project done: I can now see a corner and wall in my studio.

new_cushions

A totally different project began last August when I gathered a bunch of acorns from my backyard, with a view of growing an oak tree grove. I sort of followed the recommended steps:

  • Put the acorns in a zip-lock bag with good soil, moistened the mixture a bit, then stuck it in the fridge for a month. (Simulates winter)
  • After about 6 weeks I checked for sprouted acorns and found nothing.
  • Not wanting to give them anymore fridge space, I put the bag outside my front door. A couple days later noticed that the squirrels were finding some use for the acorns: hole in the bag, dirt around it. Shrugged off the grove as something not meant to be.
  • Just before Thanksgiving I decided to use the dirt in the acorn bag for something more useful and discovered very long root systems sprouting from 4 acorns. Felt immense satisfaction mixed with wonder at these resilient acorns.
  • Got 4 plastic containers, put in the acorns, guessed at what depth to put them in the soil, brought them inside (cuz of the squirrels’ appetites), and watered them.
  • Got very excited to see sprouts, followed by twigs and actual leaves on 3 out of the 4—saplings.

I’ve taken photographs; the next step is to go back to the article and find out what other procedures need to be meticulously followed.

new_oaktrees

Over the past decades I’ve collected tree seeds in all sorts of different places and have sprouted quite a variety—leaving dead trees behind wherever I go. In spite of my shaky background, I get such a feeling of pleasure just by gazing at my Oak babies, and am filled with hope for their (and my) strong future.

Where’d The Time Get To?

LaFitterina: 2015 hasn’t hit fast-forward yet, with January seeming to be lasting an eternity, at least to me. What makes time seem to slow down? I’ve been anticipating the end of January because I broke a bone in my toe in mid-December, and the doc said it would be healed in 6 weeks. Since I’m waiting for something to happen, then the time until that happens has been painfully slow (pardon the pun).

chimp_on_timebike

Time is always an interesting subject to contemplate. You can’t control time — time can’t be stopped, sped up, slowed down, reset, or manipulated. One second is always one second, etc. And, finally, time has been around since . . . the beginning of time.

Just The Right Words For You

Mizzfit: To finish off our week on fun ways to handle stress, how bout some advice given by peeps from the distant past? Cheers to a relaxing and fun weekend!

william_james_stress_quote

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[Img.Src: Chimp on a trike]

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