A brief definition of the cosmos: it is the part of the universe we understand. Since the mind seeks ever-expanding regions of organization, particulars of the definition are not fixed. Cosmos, because it includes meaning, will go on as long as there is intelligence in the universe. This (C. bipinnatus) is also cosmos:
Photo was taken yesterday by Norma, who owns these feet:
Her feet, you may notice, are, at every geometric point, equidistant from each other. This has always fascinated me but I never mention it to her because she would self-consciously withdraw them and I might never see them again. I am this:
We are sitting in chairs because the temperature is ranging --as it has for the past week-- between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. We are procrastinating.
Le jardin, décidément, he suffers!
Procrastinators survive California summers. Go-getters do not --heat destroys them. In the absence of motion, it is not so bad and one feels like one might be able to accomplish something, but that is a dangerous misapprehension. Sometimes you must trust nothing you see or feel. That is when thinking comes in handy. Californians think this: are we young and hydrated enough to venture farther into the yard and gather plums? Can we at least have plums? Then we meditate upon the question, consider our ages and past histories of this and that. No, we do not live in the pure present! Nor do we abolish our selfish concerns --our egos. Any guru who demands abolition of ego is an idiot, has no garden, eats poorly and is stinky!
We rise and venture further. We harvest:
We gather plums! That's about as Californian as it gets! Then we repair to the air conditioned indoors and remain there. Californian or not, we are in our mid-sixties and have no business tempting sunstroke, but alas we do it anyway!
It looks as if your courage and 'derring-do' in braving the heat was well rewarded. Now stay inside in the cool. The blessed cool.
ReplyDeleteLove the Comsos too.
Advice taken and complied with! I too love the cosmos because it includes me.
DeletePlums are worth the walk if it is within a few feet of the chair you are sitting on.
ReplyDeleteCosmos is one of my favorite flowers as they are on long stems and dance to the music of any breeze that comes by. Unfortunately, it does not sound like anything is moving in your area. I did not think it got so hot in mid to north CA. However, we once went to the garlic festival in Gilroy, Ca and thought we would die of heat stroke that day. I was sure the garlic corn on the on would pop.
Ah, then you have tasted garlic ice cream. I pronounce you Californian.
DeleteI know nothing about the cosmos or feet, but I did look up "equidistant" and learned a new word. Having survived nearly thirty California summers, I can fully sympathize with your plight.
ReplyDeleteI have never walked for plums, but I've occasionally reached for prunes - - which betrays my constant reluctance to admit my age (there's some humor in that, but don't bother to look for it). California has an abundance of summer fruits & vegetables that would delight Pomona (the goddess, not the city). Here in Texas, we only have weeds. Summer weeds and winter weeds.
Thanks for another enjoyable post.
I have been to Pomona many times, Jon, but never knew she was a Roman goddess --watching over fruit trees and caring for their cultivation. I learn here. As to weeds, I like A.A. Milne's take:"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."
DeleteGeo, I've gotten to know far too many weeds.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Pomona when I was a child, from ages 8 to 11. Never met the Goddess.
There are orchards all over the world, so Pomona's probably out of town a lot.
DeleteI can understand your puzzlement, your appearance of extreme concentration (which could be heat stroke) as you sit and contemplate Norma's feet. The temp is 100 to 110 farenheit and she is wearing socks. I too sit and ponder and look confused.
ReplyDeleteYes, a great confusion often overtakes me around Norma.
DeleteA previous comment mentioned the Gilroy Garlic Festival...I went with a carload of friends to it in maybe '80....hot day, sampled everything including garlic ice cream, when we drove out the inside of the car was reeking....
ReplyDeleteI don't envy you the heat....yesterday it got to 84 here, it could be the hottest day of the year.
Recently read Stockton is discontinuing its Asparagus Festival. I wonder if similar after-effects influenced the decision.
DeleteGeo..glad I ventured back into yer blogs to get away from my own head:) LOVE Cosmos!!!!The Heat here in Florida has an added bonus of humidity..wanna trade?
ReplyDeleteDespite the wider variety of exotic plants in your state, Annie B., I think I'll decline the swap.
DeleteWe've got a plum lady at our farmer's market. The plums are heavenly.
ReplyDeleteLove the table cloth.
Keep cool.
Plums have such a short self-life, farmers' markets are the best places to buy them. And plum ladies are always lovely.
DeleteIt matters not what the thermometer says, you will always be super cool.
ReplyDeleteMost kind Chicken, We must vow to use our super coolness only in the cause of truth and justice!
DeleteYour wife's feet undoubtedly have extraordinary powers. Quite superior to the ones my hubby's feet brought home from Nam, courtesy of jungle rot. (I couldn't arrange my feet that perfectly equidistant, even when I tried!)
ReplyDeleteBut yipes, why are you guys wearing long pants? It it's between a hundred and a hundred and ten, assuming one could pry me out of the air conditioned interior in the first place, ain't no way my legs would be swathed in denim. No socks, either. (Hmm, maybe that's why my feet are less talented...)
Thanks, Susan! True, Norma has very symmetrical feet but the sun is not her friend. Long pants, sleeves and big hats outside always.
DeleteOh those sweltering California summers! When I lived in garden Grove during the 1970s, I would flee to cool Nova Scotia and Newfoundland for relief. I court danger as a 60 Something, too! I wish I could get plums right off the trees! I discovered your poetry blog today. I enjoyed the several poems I read. I'm going to ask you a ridiculous question, considering Calif. has the population of Canada, but did you ever come across John Brugaletta from the English Dept. at Cal State Fullerton? He was my all time favorite professor. He was the editor of Southcoast Poetry Journal, but after I left California. I lost touch with him years ago. Stay cool!
ReplyDeleteI will waive my usual reply of "Oh sure, dude owes me twenty bucks." and say I have heard of John Brugaletta but have never met him. I believe he moved upstate. Thank you for reading my poems!
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