Saturday--

A bit of a change of pace.  Here is an interesting piece from the Wild Hunt concerning time.  It drew me in from the first vignette with the old man whose time had not commercial value and a relative who constantly criticized him for wasting money on cable.  The story resonated because for years my own time has really had little commercial value.  When I had jobs my time in those jobs wasn't worth enough to sustain me.  My time when I was unemployed only had potential value--as in if the time I "spent" searching for a job succeeded and I had the potential for a money income however small that income might be.  Now that I am retired I find that my time is far more valuable to me than it would b to any potential employer.  I spend it in reading, needlework, gardening, and writing--and I find that a far more satisfying way to "occupy" myself.

The garden is producing more.  I collected a double handful of cherry tomatoes which I added to the bowl we have on the counter.  Next shopping day we plan to pick up some romas and will combine with the ripe ones we have grown to make another batch of tomato sauce for the freezer.  The last batch yielded six one-pound freezer bags.  I also collected a nice basket of Gold Marie beans which are now in the freezer also.  I saw a little pod developing on the runner vine--finally!!  And the Blauhild looks like it is ready to bloom.  My Moldavian balm has also bloomed and the bees are happily working on it.  The nearby bee balm is ready to burst into blossom.  Should be any day now.  Yesterday I stopped short before I was going to open the patio door because I happened to spy a beautiful male goldfinch perched on top of a Candy Mountain sunflower vigorously attacking the seeds.  He stayed there for a good ten minutes.  I won't cut the spent sunflowers any more so the birds can enjoy them--and we can enjoy the birds.

To continue the theme of "time" with reference to "The American Dream" consider this piece from Peter Rollins posted at Pathos.  As usual with such posts questions rise in my mind that circle down to definitions.  Specifically definitions of what the American Dream is about and for whom.  And what do we really mean by "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness?"  I won't try to answer those question because my answers might make some people, especially those so invested in hawking consumer products they promise to make us happy, cringe.  And looking back I realize that what makes me happy, what I want out of my life now, and what I want to do with my "liberty" isn't the same as it was ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years ago.  It may not be what I will want ten years from now--or twenty, if I make it that far.