E T T Y - Q U E T T E

A few days ago I fell down a flight of stairs. No broken bones. The time is not now, it seems; the work is not done -- much as its nature is in doubt. "True speech actually grows from the midst of silence," says Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe. I wonder about that. If we stop speaking, will truth grow like some marvelous tumor and then burst forth as something large and uncontainable? It is clear that we speak too much, that our Babelian babble covers up more of the truth than it reveals. But sometimes we also recognize truth when we hear it out loud, our speaking almost like a rehearsal of sorts ... until we find ourselves uttering the one statement that rings true above all others. Small delights: Put zucchini by the side of the road with a sign and a jar yesterday. Earned about $8, which got converted into ice cream, a lovely trade-off on a hot day. The miniature horses left yesterday. I hope they will have a good new home. Almost August. Still dry and hot. Must dig deeper for...

Mid-summer: Suddenly, after the frenetic activity of May and June (all things growing like mad, people rushing, projects started, projects finished), there is a slowness settling in: The grass hardly needs cutting, the horses move sedately in the heat, line-ups are shorter, the daily email flood subsides as people take holidays. It is good that way, because one gets tired. Yes, the kitchen counter is filled with plastic tubs holding red currants and raspberries waiting to be converted into jam and cake and jelly .... But the fact that I linger to talk and reflect, that too is a luxury of mid-summer. I am reading the new Mussar book by Alan Morinis, and have promised to begin working seriously on my character traits. There is that edge that sometimes creeps into my relations ... what is its source, why is not love the first response instead of something remembered too late, when I'm already angry or upset? Only the wars and violence among people don't slow down. Some days ...

Much time has passed since this blog was started. Animals have come and gone. A small hors died in our arms. We have learned to grow vegetables. We have planted a vineyard. Life gets away from us too much of the time. Work keeps us too busy. But we still try. July on the farm: it is very dry this summer, and the grass is quite parched. The hay grows too slowly. But the mosquitoes are less numerous. The zucchini have gone from flower to being ... well zucchini! Take your eye off for a minute and they have doubled in size. Appetizers, main courses, and dessert tend to involve zucchini right now. I am reading Vaclav Havel's To the Castle and Back. It is strangely mesmerizing in its "order." I still do not know what it is about this man's "voice" that is so haunting. Also reading the new Mussar Book by Alan Morinis called Everyday Holiness. Or trying to. In truth, there is little time for reading. Mostly, it's work and weeding, and more weeding. And feeding ...