Category Archives: Observations

Topsoil Myths

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The View from Our Front Door photo by author

We could use some good topsoil. So, I’m doing my research and here’s a few pointers from Better Homes & Gardens that I’m considering today.

Topsoil Myths & Misunderstandings

These four common assumptions about topsoil can trip you up, leading you to pay less attention to your topsoil and, thus, harming the success of your garden. Knowing these basics will help you successfully create the best environment you can for your plants.

Topsoil Myth 1: All Topsoil Is Pretty Much the Same

Topsoil can differ dramatically, even in the same yard and from one garden bed to another. All the earth in your yard is made up of sand, silt, and clay in various amounts. The ideal ratio of these three elements allows for good drainage yet holds enough moisture to allow plant roots to access the water they need. Your soil can also vary in pH level, which is a measure of how acidic or alkaline it is; some plants, such as bigleaf hydrangeas, are more affected than others by pH levels, so you may want to tailor your topsoil blend accordingly.

Topsoil Myth 2: The Dirt in My Yard Is Fine the Way It Is

If you recently moved into a home that was previously owned by a skilled gardener, then maybe this is true. But more often than not, the quality of soil around homes—especially newly constructed ones—isn’t the best for plants. It takes time to build up high-quality soil that includes generous amounts of decomposed plants, called organic matter. This is a vital component that gives topsoil good drainage, just the right water-holding capacity, and a loose, easy-to-dig quality. It’s also important for supporting a healthy soil ecosystem of microbes that help plants grow better.

The quickest way to get great garden soil is to purchase it. You can put a 2- to 3-inch thick layer directly on top of existing soil before planting and just let nature do the rest of the work, or you can till it in. On top of that, you can amend your topsoil further with a couple of inches of compost. This can be costly and involve a lot of labor, but it will ultimately create very productive soil.

Topsoil Myth 3: To Always Have Good Topsoil, I Have to Till It Annually

If you’re creating a new garden space and want to till in soil amendments to get everything off to a good start, that’s fine. But after that, it’s best to avoid disturbing the soil as much as possible. For one thing, turning soil brings weed seeds to the surface where sunlight will stimulate them to sprout, so you’ll just be creating more work for yourself to get rid of them. Typically, nature will take care of mixing in organic matter so you really can save yourself the trouble.

Additional tilling may be necessary if your soil becomes very compacted, which means it doesn’t have enough tiny air pockets in it that roots require to establish. You can avoid this by staying off your soil, especially when it’s wet. If you need to walk into a bed to care for plants, you can avoid compacting the soil by creating a permanent stepping stone path you can use for maintenance or temporarily laying down a sheet of plywood while you work.

Topsoil Myth 4: Rich Soil Never Needs Fertilizer

Plants draw the nutrients they need to grow from the soil they’re planted in. Those nutrients usually need to be replenished every so often for the healthiest growth, no matter which type of soil you have. This is especially true for the soil where you grow annual flowers and vegetables, which suck up a lot of nutrients to fuel their rapid growth. Luckily, it’s easy (and inexpensive) to restore nutrition to your soil by adding high-quality compost and/or granular or liquid fertilizer products as needed. If you’re not sure whether you need to add nutrients, a soil test is a quick way to check. To add nutrients and replace organic matter as it breaks down, add 1 to 2 inches of compost to your garden beds in the fall. That way, you’ll be all set come spring and can just add a layer of mulch after cleaning up and planting your beds for the new growing season.” excerpt from 4 Topsoil Mistakes That May Be Hindering Your Garden Success @ http://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/soil/topsoil/

Stringing Pearls

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It’s early morning and I’m looking for pearls to guide me today. Here are three that have helped me already. May they be helpful to you as well.

“The principal purpose of memory is to anticipate the future, not to remember the past (Hancock 2009).” Peter Hancock @ peterhancock.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2012/06/Hancock-Shahnami-2010.pdf

“It is the Breath … that reveals life, sustains life, and renews life in every way.” Richard Rohr @ cac.org

“Getting angry and making a decision out of anger are not the same thing. That’s why Seneca said that the greatest remedy for your temper was delay. Feeling the feeling and acting on the feeling are separated by a space and the bigger that space, the better the choice we will make.” Ryan Holiday @ Daily Stoic

Daily Thoughts & Rehearsing Suffering

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Woke up this morning in a sunny disposition

but then read my email, the forecast, news highlights and social media.

Truly, we are bombarded daily with thoughts that are not of our own making:

  • Am I safe?
  • Am I lovable?
  • Do I matter?

How we handle these thoughts is critical to our mental and physical health. What options do we really have?

Below are two excerpts that have helped me better understand where many thoughts come from and how they may affect us.

How Many Ads Do We See Daily?

“It is estimated that an adult in a metropolitan area may see anywhere from 50 to 400 advertisements per day1. Digital marketing experts estimate that most Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day2. Folks from marketing firm Yankelovich, Inc. estimate that the average modern person is exposed to around 5,000 ads per day3. An average modern individual is estimated to see 300-700 ad messages per day4. thedrum.com

Rehearsing Suffering

A major obstacle … is the tendency of our mind to get stuck in negative thinking. The mind “rehearses” the scenarios that bother us, ultimately because it wants to resolve the problem and to find a way out. Unfortunately, it may get stuck … repeating the same track ceaselessly.

The mind has been likened to a search engine—you (start with one) thought and it gives you other thoughts related to it. (For example,) if we keep harboring hateful thoughts—even if we don’t act on them—they may lead to more hate and violence. …

Everything we routinely do can be understood as practicing and rehearsing. … In neuroscience, it is known that neurons that “fire together wire together.” ….

When you do or say something negatively the first time, you may feel bad about it, but the second time it may already feel less unsettling. You may tell yourself “You’re not worthy,” — the first time you do it, it is a shock. But the second time you may feel less bad. And then the behavior may become a habit. Every time you get angry, you punch the wall. It can become uncontrollable. A habit becomes a personality, which then determines the course of your life and destiny. …

For those who tend to be gloomy and in despair easily, compounded with the suffering of the past, our habitual mood makes it even more difficult to handle and transform the situation. … It takes a lot of courage to release and let go of our negativity.”

Excerpt adapted from Flowers in the Dark: Reclaiming Your Power to Heal Trauma through Mindfulness by Sister Dang Nghiem © 2021 by Sister Dang Nghiem. Reprinted in arrangement with Parallax Press. For the full article see: tricycle.org/article/sister-dang-nghiem-suffering/

What are you thinking today?

Dec 4 – Trust 101

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I have been encouraged to study and practice the definitions of trust.

One definition is “Consistency over time is trust” credited to Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella in his book, Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone. Clearly, doing the same thing over and over again will build a reputation of reliability. Repetitive behavior can be counted on to not surprise others; this definition of trust might be synonymized as being “solid and dependable.”

Another definition of trust offered in an internet search is perhaps a more metaphysical one. “We need people in our lives with whom we can be as open as possible. To have real conversations with people may seem like such a simple, obvious suggestion, but it involves courage and risk.” –Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life

So, today’s senryu is:

to build trust, let’s be

open and reliable

no surprises, please

ETTA PEARL & IT ALL BEGINS WITH UNION

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her blindness and his ignorance

her deafness and his magical thinking

her dementia and his futility

our connection and our rescue

Here are two different topics that totally connect for me.

First, Etta Pearl was the first rescue dog I adopted. Found near a dumpster, lost or abandoned, she needed and received help. Unfortunately, she was blind and deaf and very agitated. For some convoluted reason, I thought I was ready to take on this challenge.

I’ve since learned that there’s a term for when a rescue shelter wants to help an animal but knows they are extremely medically challenged AND they don’t want to hurt their statistics for being a “no-kill facility.” The term is outsourced euthanasia.

If a private individual adopts an animal and then proceeds with a vet-recommended end-of-life procedure, then the animal is “liberated” from their suffering AND the rescue shelter does not record the death on their records.

In Etta Pearl’s case, her extreme agitation led to obsessively walking in tight circles and biting anyone who tried to comfort or feed her. The vet said it was a clear case of canine cognitive dysfunction aka “doggie dementia.” My first rescue adoption lasted less than three weeks.

Second, is …

Richard Rohr‘s Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation
Week Forty-Eight: The Prophetic Path: Motivated by Love

It All Begins with Union
 
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
—Romans 8:38–39

This week we focus on people who call us to act out of loving union with God for the sake of others. Father Richard considers union with God as something that has already taken place, whether we experience it or not:

We are already in union with God! There is an absolute, eternal union between God and the soul of everything. At the deepest level, we are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3) and “the whole creation … is being brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God” (Romans 8:21). The problem is Western religion has not taught us this. For most Christians that I’ve worked with as a priest, God is still separate and “out there.” Most people are still trying to secure God’s approval. Our ego over-emphasizes our individuality and separateness from God and others. We limited God’s redemption to the human species—and not very many individuals within that species! [1]

Daily contemplative prayer helps us rediscover our inherent union and learn how to abide in Presence, trusting that we are already good and safe in God. We don’t have to worry about our little private, separate, insecure self. Jesus taught, I am one with you and you are one with your neighbor and we are all one with God. That’s the gospel! That’s the whole point of Communion or Eucharist; we partake of the bread and wine until they convince us that we are in communion. It seems easier for God to convince bread and wine of their identity than to convince us.

Believe it or not, we’re not here to save our souls. That’s already been done once and for all—in Christ, through Christ, with Christ, and as Christ (see Ephesians 1:3–14). By God’s love, mercy, and grace, we are already the Body of Christ: the one universal body that has existed since the beginning of time. You and I are here for just a few decades, dancing on the stage of life, perhaps taking our autonomous selves far too seriously. That little and clearly imperfect self just cannot believe it could be a child of God. I hope the gospel frees us to live inside of a life that is larger than the one our small selves have imagined. The larger life of the Body of Christ cannot be taken from us. It is the very life of God which cannot be destroyed. [2]

As Thomas Merton wrote in his journal, “We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.” [3]
 
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, Emotional Sobriety: Rewiring Our Programs for “Happiness” (Albuquerque, NM: Center for Action and Contemplation, 2011), webcast. Available as MP3 audio download.

[2] Adapted from Richard Rohr, “There Is Only One Suffering; There Is Only One Happiness,” homily, September 13, 2015. 

[3] Thomas Merton, The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, ed. Naomi Burton, Patrick Hart, James Laughlin (New York: New Directions, 1973), 308. Rohr’s emphasis.

Nov 23 – Be Thankful for Pets

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Today, I am especially mindful of the lost loved animal companions that have passed since this time last year. For me, that includes two cats and two dogs: Leezy, Lexie, Tilly and Zorro.

I’m also remembering the cats and dogs that have been honored by sister and brother grief companions in the St. Louis region. They are Duke, Ellie, Journi Ray, Kitty, Lovey-Dovey, Maggie, Moses, Sangria, Stella, Stewie, Sunny Marie, Tully, and Whitey.

Below is a repost of a beautiful reminder of the many reasons we love our animal companions. Thank you, Katya Lidsky-Friedman, for all you do to recognize both human and more-than-human animals today.

Be Thankful for Pets: 10 Reasons to Be Grateful This Thanksgiving

BY KATYA LIDSKY-FRIEDMAN
On Thanksgiving, we all get to set aside some time to reflect and be thankful. To be grateful. To count our blessings and feel lucky for what we have. Hopefully, you can give thanks for your health, your loved ones, and your many achievements and opportunities. But how about your pets? Let’s all vow to give a special moment this holiday season to give thanks to our furry friends for the unique love they provide and the countless ways in which they enrich our lives. Here are 10 reasons to be grateful for pets this Thanksgiving.

1. They make us laugh.

Pets are always finding new ways to make us laugh. Whether they be old pets, new pets, or foster dogs and cats — we find ourselves in stitches over their hilarious antics. All pets have their own personalities, their own jokes, and their own way of being funny. Thank you to our four-legged friends for keeping us cracking up.

2. They keep us present.

Pets don’t live in the past or in the future. They’re living in the present like a furry little Buddha. They remind us to be mindful, to take deep breaths, to let go of past or future moments, and to be in the now. We thank pets for reminding us that the present is a gift.

3. They keep us company.

Who doesn’t love a good snuggle buddy to enjoy a good movie with? Pets make fantastic friends because they are simply masters of loyalty and companionship. It’s hard to be lonely when you have a devoted pal to spend your time with. We appreciate our furry friends for their incredible friendship.

4. They give us purpose.

Helping homeless pets feels good. It feels right. It feels worthy and meaningful because it is, in fact, worthy and meaningful. Because regardless of how you do it or how much time you have to share, giving back to animals is a wonderful way to volunteer and be of service. We’re thankful to help animals and, in turn, be given a mission we can believe in.

5. They make great teachers.

They’re non-judgemental. We can make mistakes in front of them and they don’t mind. They’re always there to lick away a tear or cuddle next to us when we need support. Pets allow us to learn as we go, to fail, and to be imperfect – and they love us anyway. We are indebted to animals for accepting us just as we are.

6. They keep us active.

Pets keep us active because they need regular walks, playtime, and socialization to keep both mentally and physically stimulated. Dogs make terrific running, walking, or hiking buddies. Cats love to play. By providing bunnies with a safe and enclosed area to frolic outside, rabbits can encourage us to soak up some sunshine. Horses pull us towards nature. High fives or high paws to all our pets for keeping us full of life and energy.

7. They challenge us.

Some pets are easier than others. Some are a more natural fit for your lifestyle. But we believe all animals deserve a chance at a happy life. Time and time again, we see that even pets who challenge us offer tremendous value and always reward us with as much as we put in. Whether it’s a more difficult pet with behavioral or health issues, a dog who takes extra time to smell the grass on a walk, or a kitty who just can’t get where the litterbox is, all animals require consistency, patience, and love from us in order to succeed. We get to become a team with our pets as we work with them.

8. They make us feel like rock stars.

Let’s be real — we all love how excited our pets get each and every time we come home. Even when you just step out of the shower, the display of adoration and dedication is good for the ego. Animals aren’t afraid or embarrassed to shower us with love and to show us how much we mean to them. We are so grateful to our dogs for making us feel as awesome and interesting as rock stars.

9. They make us better.

Our pets improve us in so many ways. Studies show that petting an animal can reduce a person’s heart rate as well as their blood pressure, and animals keep us physically healthier overall because they keep us moving. And the endless joy they bring increases our mental health. By focusing on positive reinforcement with our pets, we learn to pay attention to what we love about others, and it keeps us focusing on the good. Thanks to our pets for all the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits they grant us.

10. They let live with gratitude.

Look at the list above. We thank our own pets and all pets for keeping us thankful. With their help, every day can be Thanksgiving.

Katya Lidsky is a published writer, host of “The Animal That Changed You” podcast, and a life coach for Dog People. 

Oct 28 – Fighting Societal Affective Disorder

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are you feeling SAD?

something might be wrong for you

check out your beliefs

I’m a huge fan of Rabbi Rami Shapiro and have a number of his books on addiction, religion, and social issues. Rabbi Rami also has a regular column in the Spirituality & Health ezine. See this site for his latest column: http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/fighting-societal-affective-disorder

Below are highlights from the article that most spoke to me. I highly encourage you, dear reader, to check out the full article.

Fighting Societal Affective Disorder

by  Rabbi Rami Shapiro

After a conversation with a seasonal affective disorder expert, Rabbi Rami ponders the affliction of societal affective disorder.

Reading Defeating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder): A Guide to Health and Happiness through All Seasons (by) author Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, I was struck with the notion that Western civilization may be going through its own version of SAD: not seasonal affective disorder, but societal affective disorder.

SAD is a “condition of regular depressions that occur in the fall and winter and typically remit in the spring and summer.” Among the common symptoms of seasonal affective disorder are a slowing down of thinking and action, sadness, increased anxiety, increased appetite, cravings for sweets and starches, greater need for sleep, and less interest in sex.

As I look at societal affective disorder, the symptoms are similar: lack of mental clarity and increase in irrationality; increase in fear, anger, hatred, and violence; increased appetite for conspiracy theories; scapegoating and othering of marginalized communities; cravings for empty rhetoric, spectacle, and bread and circuses; greater need for mind-numbing info-tainment; and less interest in sex accompanied by a rising obsession with homophobia, toxic masculinity, and misogyny….

(W)hy are so many people afraid of and violent toward the LGBTQ+ community? Because they believe the very existence of such people violates the will of God or laws of Nature.

Why do so many people hate Jews? Because they believe Jews are part of a millennia-old cabal that secretly runs the world to the detriment of [fill in your favorite racial, ethnic, or religious group].

Why do so many white people want to erase African-American history? Because they believe that the truth might lead to justice for Black people at the expense of white people.

If I’m right about this, one way to cure America of societal affective disorder is to examine the health of our beliefs. But be careful: Don’t assume that liberals’ beliefs are healthy, and conservatives’ beliefs are unhealthy. … We need another set of criteria when judging our beliefs. Let me suggest this preliminary list:

If your beliefs promote the thriving of all people regardless of race, sex, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc., they are probably healthy. If they don’t, they are probably unhealthy.

If your beliefs call you to acts of justice and compassion to serve the wellbeing of person and planet, they are probably healthy. If your beliefs make you anxious, angry, fearful, violent, and boorish, they are probably unhealthy.

If your beliefs are healthy, share them. If your beliefs are unhealthy, change them. In this way, we might do something to defeat the societal affective disorder that is threatening our democracy.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award-winning author, essayist, poet, and teacher. 

Repost of The Theology of a Poet

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Many thanks to Jim Van Vurst for his homage to Emily Dickinson below. And check out the Franciscan Spirit Blog also referenced.

Notes from a Friar: The Theology of a Poet

Notes on paper | Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

I don’t read a lot of poetry, but I do have a favorite author and one who is deeply appreciated by many: Emily Dickinson. She lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, in the latter part of the 19th century. She was shy and lived a very reclusive life. During her 55 years, she wrote over 1,500 poems which were filled with simple wisdom. Two examples of such wisdom: “Old age comes on suddenly, not gradually as it thought” and “Saying nothing sometimes says the most.”

Only a few dozen of her poems were published in her lifetime. When she died, her family found hundreds more hidden all over her room and throughout the house. I have found two of her poems supremely thoughtful. In fact, I frequently quote them in my funeral homilies. The first one I use is “I Never Saw a Moor.”

“I never saw a moor; I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks and what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God nor visited in heaven,
Yet, certain am I of the spot, as if the chart were given.”

Deep Truths

I catch people smiling when they hear Dickinson’s words because they touch on a truth that is in every believer’s heart. Isn’t it true that we’ve never seen heaven or had an audible conversations with God? Yet, as a people of faith, are we not certain of that heavenly “spot” as if we had a very map in front of us?

If you argued with a nonbeliever who begged you to prove there was an eternal destiny, you might find yourself fumbling for Scripture passages to prove heaven to him. But I suspect after all the Scripture passages we might quote, what would likely make the nonbeliever think more deeply would be a line from one of Dickinson’s poems: “I’m certain of that spot; it’s like I have a map right in front of me.”

There is another poem she wrote that startles with its simple truth.
“Because I could not stop for Death–
He kindly stopped for me–
The Carriage held but just Ourselves–
And Immortality.”

While most of us secretly hope for a peaceful death with loved ones surrounding us, for the majority, it is not we who “stop to die,” but death which stops for us. And within that carriage, in the seat across from us, sits immortality, with a lovely smile.

What I see in this poem is really a basic truth of faith. Once God gives life, it never ends. It can’t end because our lives are a sharing in the eternal life of God. The moment of death is just the last piece of mosaic that completes the story of our life’s journey. And every moment of that journey has been accompanied by a loving and providential God.

Dickinson said that she never went to church. She said that the birds were her choir and the sky her cathedral vault. But one thing is quite certain: She was a woman of deep faith.

Waiting for You

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Today’s pupryu: Waiting for You

rescued and ready

to love you if you want me –

I’m waiting for you

I love walking dogs; especially the beautiful animals at Stray Rescue of STL. Yet, I confess, there’s a sadness at times when you realize you’re walking some of the same animals, week after week, who would love to become someone’s best friend.

Sure, no dog is a perfect for everyone just like no human is a perfect fit for everyone. Maybe, just maybe, your perfect fit is at your local rescue shelter.

Here are three of the four dogs I walked yesterday.

The Supreme, nearly 5-yr-old 50lb+ female Terrier Mix who prefers to be an only dog.

Tic Tac, 7-yr-old, 50lb+ female Terrier – OK with kids and other mellow dogs; not cats.

L.O.T.I. (Luck of the Irish), 3-yr-old, 50lb+ female Terrier. Gorgeous dog with a pleasant personality.

A fourth dog, Skidmore, is a young Plott Hound/Shepherd mix. I will collect a picture next week if he’s still there. Fingers crossed he’s not because he’s been adopted.