LIFE LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN, Part One

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: You’re never too old to learn something new. <<click here to read a previous blog post with a similar theme.>> 

And here we go again.

Even though I am rapidly approaching that magic number (no, not the legal drinking age, but the one for retirement), I'm still learning stuff. Every single day. I recently learned that playful pups and edible gardens do not have to be mutually exclusive. This is such a eureka moment for me, as it is contrary to a lesson I learned in my youth and have never forgotten. Dogs relieve themselves wherever they want, even if it’s in a pumpkin patch. Call me a germaphobe, but I just don’t like the idea of dog poo leeching in my Thanksgiving pie.

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW...

 <<Originally posted August 2015>>

You may think it odd when I tell you I haven’t flown since the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Actually, I haven’t flown since well before then, and only because a short notice event (a funeral) prevented me from making the journey via what experts consider the less safe (but it keeps for wheels on the ground) option, my SUV. It’s not that I have allowed terrorists to frame my fear, but that I have developed my own fear based on experimentations with gravity conducted as a child. I pretended to be a graceful red Cardinal and took flight out of a tree—and promptly landed in a painful heap on the cold, rocky ground. This attempt at flying necessitated a trip to the ER, which meant I couldn’t attend my best friend’s birthday party that afternoon. (I was more upset about missing the pony rides than having to wear a cast for six weeks, but I digress.) My point is, if a little, lithe (and I was but a sprite of a child) me couldn’t maintain a state of airborne-ness for more than two seconds, how can a behemoth piece of metal carrying a hundred people be able to soar at 34,000 feet without crashing to the ground?