The Death of a Garden

in #life5 years ago

To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn...

October is well upon us, and as the last vestiges of what was summer slips steadfastly into fall on its way to frosty winter, those once vibrant plants in our gardens are starting to feel the effects of dwindling sunlight, cooler temperatures, and less human care and attention.

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I have no idea what kind of flower this is, but it's growing in the same area as our raspberries like it was April, not October. Google Images thinks it's a snapdragon.

And yet, some cling to life, despite the inevitability of death and decay.

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Leaves that were once lush and verdant are now a dry bright yellow and brown.

What is it about life that makes fruits, vegetables, plants, animals—even Nature herself—want to cling to it longer than is needful? Do they fear the wispy void of death like their human counterparts so often do?

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These chili peppers are almost entirely black now.

Or is it something else—a mere fulfilling of their primordial function—to create—until they succumb to what is yet another turn in the wondrous celestial wheel of eternity.

As the darkness grows and the light fades, most of Nature will sleep, roots taking refuge in the warmer ground, while stalk and branch and stem and leaf are left to wither, shrink and die.

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Grapes, clinging to the vine, while one of their own becomes a raisin.

Only we, the humans, our stubbornness renown, will attempt to weather the oncoming night. Only we will try to flourish beyond what is needed to hibernate or sustain life. We alone will test the limits of love and joy through the depths of nocturnal slumber. In doings so, we will hope that once again the warmth will return, bringing with it the green shoots of risen spring.

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The tomato plants might be wasting away around her, but that doesn't stop our friendly lady bug from seeking shelter amid the decay.

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About This Post

All images were taken by Glen Anthony Albrethsen with the Olympus E-3 DSLR using a macro Zuiko 14-45mm lens.

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a beautiful poetic article @glenalbrethsen. Perfect for a post about a dying garden.

And, yes, Google was right this time. Those are snap dragons or Antirrhinums if you want to show off. 😊

Hey, @gillianpearce.

Well, thank you. Things started to go all poetic from the get go, so I just went with it. I'm not sure if that was my original intent, but now I'm not even sure what that was. A straight up report I guess. I like this better.

re: Google

Every once in a while Google Images gets it right. I'm not sure if I should be happy or petrified that it's truly smart enough to recognize these kinds of things. I am becoming less and less a fan of AI as time passes and breakthroughs increase.

I just went with it

I'm glad you did @glenalbrethsen. I really liked it and haven't seen the writing side of you before at least not for a while if I have.

I am becoming less and less a fan of AI

It's not something I've really thought of to be honest as it just seems inevitable. I was never much of a table thumper and as the years go by I find I ignore more and more of what's going on out there.

It's all so complicated and we all know less than we think we know . . . I think! 😂

I have no doubt we don't know everything that's going on, not even the major breakthroughs. They're happening so quickly anymore across all fields of endeavor that i don't think it's possible for one person to even keep track of them all. We'll probably get some warning, but it's entirely possible we'll wake up one day and the world will have significantly changed in some way.

It is probably inevitable. I just think that someone needs to ask less about if we can do it and more about if we should.

Sounds like a poetry if am not mistaken.

Do you what? The death of one particular fruit or garden will give rise to a new creation.

hey, @maxjgcomm.

Well, it's probably poetic prose of some sort. More like me trying to use a few more fancy words. :)

I'm hoping we can use the dead plants this time to help fertilize the beds a little bit, maybe break up the soil. We tend to get a lot of weeds, though, so we'll have to do something about that. Not sure why but we ended up with a red tinged clover I've never seen before, too. Must have been in the new kind of soil we bought.

We had decent results this year. I'm hoping for even better next year. Especially if we do manage to get rid of the beds. It would be nice to put in some kind of drip system, but the automated watering worked pretty well this time, so maybe we'll keep that.

I thought as much though. I love the ways it flows with the words you used.

Using dead plant to fertilize the beds is a great idea and will certainlu break the soil's form.

sir Glen A! lol. great photos. Those grapes still look good enough to eat too.
Hey I forgot to tell you that my wife started her jailers job yesterday.

Wow. So, actually in the jail with the prisoners? What do they have her doing? She have stories already? What did she think? I mean, you could just tell me. :)

Oh it's so interesting to learn how the whole operation works and she is really liking it so far. At first she was a little apprehensive because she was supposed to be trained by an older woman and be trained in the womens section first.

But, the lady who they wanted her to be trained by is out with pneumonia so they sent her to the mens section. However, so far it's been fine.

They have to take a count every 30 minutes of all the prisoners, which seems crazy but the entire operation is a well oiled machine and very efficient so that must be necessary.
they also have to escort the commissary deliveries and all the meal deliveries.

Those deliveries are done by the trusted inmates so she just has to open doors and the food openings and things like that.
But they're short of people so the head guy has been training her but he keeps getting pulled off the floor to take care of other things so that left her by herself doing the counts and other things on her first day! lol.

So it's a little crazy and there's tons of stuff to learn. All the self-defense things like how to get out of holds and all that kind of thing they don't get taught until they've been there for 90 days which makes no sense.

It would be logical to give them that training before they have to be in with the prisoners but they don't. And the women, by themselves, have to go into these cells with 6 or 8 men and no cameras!

They wouldn't have that set up in a prison, this is just a jail where people are doing their short time sentences or are awaiting their sentencing so they know if they get into trouble it's seriously hurts their case.

So far that's the only thing we don't like about it. But there are many ways to advance and she is already meeting high ranking people in charge and people with influence, which is the main reason she took this job in the first place. And best of all, she said all the people there are wonderful and friendly and it has a real family feel to it.

I'm glad you asked, I like talking about it. I've mentioned that she started a new job to quite a few people and no one has even asked what the job is or how it was going, that kinda surprised me.

re: head guy training her

Welcome to the world of government work. Sounds familiar, except, no inmates. Seems like they're always short on staff, and unfortunately, there's generally just one head person who can take care of everything. So, I'm not surprised.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised about the self-defense either, though I am in total agreement with you about it coming first. But it sounds like they're willing to take the risk in the beginning to see if she'll keep on for those 90 days without quitting. Don't know what the turnover rate is there, but if they're shorthanded, sounds like they're might at least be people retiring on a regular basis, or getting transfers.

Jail then is a good place to start, if it makes people behave a little better. It's also good to hear the people she works with are nice. nothing worse than having to deal with inmates and co-workers.

What shift is she working? Will that last, or is it just for training. Usually the new people, the way I understand it, get the worst hours to start.

Cool that she's able to rub elbows with the mucky mucks. Sounds like the table is being set. :)

haha! the mucky mucks? is that what they call the Brass? The bosses?

Yeah the turnover rate is high for some reason. The head guy training her is leaving Friday to go to work for an insurance company and they said most of the turnover with the women is because they get too friendly and fall for one of the men! lol. stupid females!

Let yourself get conned by a con. And in dealing with ex-cons over the years we've seen it over and over because they are such great liars with such emotional stories and can cry on demand! lol.
That ain't happening with Mrs. J oh no. She's the strongest person I know and she don't fall for anything, and she is guided by the Holy Spirit.

Plus the first thing they told her was not to believe a word any inmate says! lol. I feel sorry for the ones telling the truth, if there are any.

Oh, in the men's section they said the biggest reason for turnover was not following the rules like checking on some inmates every 20 minutes and the others every 30 minutes.

It's all with electronic readers that you put up to each cell but you also have to check it off on a chart and people would try to get out of it and then check it off on paper and they'd get caught because of the electronic record so they'd be fired. hard to believe they'd be that dumb.

Since the shifts are 12 hours there's only 2 shifts, 6 am to 6 pm and visa versa. Her training is on both shifts and after 6 weeks she should be trained and they will give her a permanent shift, she wants and needs days. She has to get up at 3:30 but she always gets up at 4 or 4:30 anyway.

But she's always had problems at night. Like by 8 pm she's falling asleep!

Grapes, clinging to the vine, while one of their own becomes a raisin.

That is a pretty example of the most heartbreaking part of life. At least a raisin is still useful in death - I like the think people are too.

I have a fascination with how the energy of plants is transferred to seed or root this time of year. It always gets me thinking warm and cozy thoughts, like it's the plant version of snuggling under the covers.

This was very pretty to read and see.

Well, thank you, @ginnyannette.

I agree, it is amazing what goes on during the winter months. While I'm happy to have a break, the plants are doing what they do, hunkering down, digging in, and resting up to rejuvenate in the spring.

re: people useful in death

I would say so. I would also hope it goes beyond just usefulness. That they can still be a blessing in our lives even though they are no longer with us. The memories we have, the counsel they gave, the lives they lived left as examples for us—maybe bittersweet compared to the raisin, but ultimately, longer lasting and beneficial.

I liked the way the photos turned out. My iPhone 6s plus is more convenient to use, but it just doesn't produce the same quality as the old Olympus E-3 DSLR I used here. I understand the iPhone X and newer are much better, so who knows. Maybe next year I'll upgrade and see. :)

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