Life imitates art

It's been a delicious year.

I swear to god, if I wait any longer to start this blog and write this post, I'm going to pop! Every time I intend to restart my blogging life, my online writing and posting, my whatever this is I'm trying to express, something comes up and offers interference. I have succumbed to that interference so far but no longer.

One week ago, shy one hour, I was rear-ended by a distracted 22-year old and my life turned into smashed cars, pain and suffering and doctors visits and hours on the phone with insurance agents and arranging for and picking up rental cars and adjusting to new circumstances and intending that all of this interruption and challenge is a blessing in disguise. Yes, this is a blessing in disguise although I'll only recognize the blessing in retrospect.

That's how life works. The strikes and folds, the bends and curves of whoa! this roller coaster our souls have bought a ticket to.

But moving back a bit, had I not been rear ended while waiting patiently with my brake lights and turn signals on, with my spirit uplifted and motivation intact, I would have started this a week ago. But, to be honest, there have been interruptions of different sorts arising for months that I've allowed to hold me back.

If I'd moved through any or all of those interruptions, I would have said, I started this year in the throes of an illustration project for which I was also hired and charged with designing the book and managing the project—an illustration project of 60 fruits and vegetables. It was a mighty task and I loved it—the challenges and victories alike.

Here's a glimpse of what the end product looks like:

"Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life."
~Oscar Wilde, 'The Decay of Lying: An Observation', 1889 

In late spring, as I completed the illustration phase and moved into design and project management , I found a few trays of organic tomato and pepper seedling on top of the trash cans at my apartment project. 

No, no, I thought. This will never do! I rescued the seedlings, adopted some out-of-date recycling bins which I filled with good dirt and started a garden project outside my bedroom window. One thing led to another...

I adopted discarded pots and such from outgoing tenants, bought large bags of organic dirt then tiny pots of favorite herbs and accepted all perennial donations.

Suddenly, I'd started a rather extensive garden project. Over the summer, I learned about nurturing soil, the effects of extreme weather on plants, what vegetables need more than scented gardens and perennial flowers (those being my forte... fortés?). My burgeoning garden yielded tomatoes (but only a few), cucumbers (as few), green peppers (late, even still now, in November) and loads of happy herbs.

Understanding by August that my summer yield was slim, I started a fall garden with new knowledge and tools (amendments) for the soil. 

By Halloween, things are looking up but we'll have to wait to see what's edible and juiceable. It's been a warm fall and is a warm start to November but the weather (and good watering) bodes well for a southern winter garden.

All right. I've thrown down my own gauntlet. Or I should say, my gardening glove.
​It's enough for today. We'll see what I compose in the coming weeks.

At least I've planted my first seed. 

"At first, art imitates life. Then life will imitate art.
​Then life will find its very existence from the arts."
—Fyodor Dostoevsky