Where Is My (Master)Mind?

If you've been around here a little while, you've probably heard me use the word "mastermind" once or twice in reference to creative groups I've been a part of in the past, but what is it really?  Napoleon Hill introduced us to the notion with his 1925 book, The Law of Success, and to me, is best described on Wikipedia (I know, I know...) as "a peer-to-peer mentoring group used to help members solve their problems with input and advice from the other group members."  We could sit here and inject prettier words, and try to spice it up a bit, but that description really gets to the meat of it without wasting any time.  Although, I do find Hill's detail a bit too romantic not to include:  

No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind. 

The Word & The World

How old were you when you learned the word compersion?  Oh this is wild, spell-check didn't even recognize it just now.  Back to the topic at hand, how old were you?  Are you learning it right now?  Let me tell you, I was thirty-eight years old before I'd ever even heard it, let alone learned what it was.  If this is your first time seeing it, without look it up, what do you think it means?  Some of you word nerds out there are probably able to put it together, but I would have never guessed.  

The Songbirds are Singing Like They Know the Score

On this Crow & Raven Appreciation Day, did you know that corvids are considered songbirds?  I didn't learn that until last year, but once I heard, it actually made sense since they always seem to be so "chatty."  I just never knew that what they were doing was considered singing.  If you have the luxury of living someplace with any type of garden, yard, or green space, I fully support the idea of you befriending your local corvids.  To me, it always seems when most folks write about them, the topic usually skews toward mythology, or witchcraft, or something spooky & mysterious, but what I've come to love about the crew that frequents my place is how sweet, caring, cheeky, and even humorous they are.  

Bloom Where You Are

First year Dahlia seedlings 2021

 "Don't let yourself get in the way of the things that people love about you."

-Machine Gun Kelly
(No, the other one)

 

What's Crackin'?

It is well, and truly Spring now, can you hardly believe it?!  I can't.  Winter did a number on me this year, I can not lie.  Typically, I look forward to the cold, darker months.  I really enjoy curling up with novels of the American Gothic variety, or I'll take all the time stuck indoors as an opportunity to tear my kitchen apart and reorganize things that got ignored during all those months when the sun was shining - instead of Spring cleaning, I'm a big Fall cleaner.  Around the end of September I like to wrap up my outdoor projects, and turn my focus on the interior of my home, and get it ready to embrace and comfort me for the next several months.  I didn't do any of that last year.  A few posts ago I already mentioned how pretty much my entire year last year did not go to plan at all, and for the most part I was okay-ish rolling with the punches, but by October the wheels really fell off, and it was really ... something.  I honestly haven't had a year like 2021 in over a decade, and I'm really hoping I'm good for another ten years!

One bright spot in 2021 was discovering this absolute gem of a rose shop out of Brenham, Texas: The Antique Rose Emporium.

You've gotta get a load of this place!  You might be asking, what's the big deal anyway, all these places are the same.  No.  They're really not all the same.  At first glance, I could understand why a person would think that, I'm sure I probably thought that as well at first click, but then I dug a little deeper.  Y'all these folks are straight up Rose Nerds, and I love it!  They're experts in rare, and obscure specimens, and down right ancient varieties, made even cooler by the fact that you can shop by year of entry.  Exibit A: Sweet Briar Rose introduced prior to 1551. 

"... a favorite English native that has been recorded in literature from Chaucer to Shakespeare."

**Swoon**

You get a free mini-history lesson all while browsing gorgeous blooms!  What is there to not like about that, my fellow geeks?  I'll tell you.  Not a damn thing!  What's even more incredible is that the plants are sold in gallon pots for a solid third of the price other places are asking for the same bushes.  I was stunned when my boxes arrived ... I honestly expected little 2 - 4 inch pots for 20 bucks a piece.  No, Ma'am.  Full, baby shrubs showed up ready to be popped into the ground and strut their stuff this year, not some sad looking twig in a peat pot.  AND THAT'S NOT EVEN AT THE WHOLESALE PRICE!  Granted, they had to scrap the wholesale program this year because their inventory has been severely impacted by several factors converging at once, but I can imagine when it is up and running, it will absolutely melt my mind.  

After everything that went wrong last year, it's been a real treat to have my order from The Antique Rose Emporium arrive healthy, undamaged, and ready to rumble in the garden.  If you're looking for roses to put in your garden, I hope you'll give them a try, my only regret is that it took me so long to find out about this place!

xoxo

Thawing Out

In 2019 I started what I thought was going to be a little project, maybe a throw blanket for watching movies on the couch ...  What ended up happening is I spent the year knitting a Queen size bedspread because, of course I did.  I don't think I've met a thing yet that part of me doesn't love to over-complicate.  The point was, to take a moment out of each day, and do something solely for myself.  The cool thing about using this idea to make a tangible item is that at the end of the year you actually have something to commemorate the process, and something to serve as a physical reminder to check-in, and look after yourself.  I can walk through a room now, and see the blanket folded up, or draped over the arm of something, or rumpled up on my bed, and it prompts me to ask myself if I've bothered to do anything just for me that day, just because it feels good to do it, and for no other practical reason whatsoever.  Could I have achieved the same thing with something a bit smaller?  Perhaps, but I'm not actually sure about that.  I'm not really into hints, and subtleties.  I like BIG signs; things that are unavoidable; things with impact, so maybe this did need to be the behemoth that it's turned out to be.  

Cheer up, things could get worse ...

... So I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse!  

This was a line my mother and her group of friends used to toss back and forth at each other in the 1960s, and I've tried to pin it down for attribution, but so far I've come up with three possibilities: James Hagerty, Robert Lynn Asprin, or Jerome Lester Horwitz, also known as, Curly Howard.  It seems like such a Curly thing to say, so I'm going with that one, except in my head when I hear him saying it, "worse" is always spelled, "woiyse," because, of course it is.

E - I - E - I - Whoa

Dahlias: First year seedlings, 2021

Last Spring, I talked very briefly about the Floret Flower Farm Workshop I joined; I wanted to share so much more throughout the year than I was able to.  Taking a crack at becoming a flower micro-farm started out okay enough ... The first 6 weeks of the year were dedicated to the class itself, garden-planning, and ordering.  The first two parts were great!  The ordering, however, was a little frustrating simply because stock started running out by the time the planning sections of the workshop wrapped up, so by the time I was ready to buy, and thought I knew what I was doing, almost everything I wanted was already sold out.