Making the Earth Laugh

When I was a kid, I used to love to plant flowers with my Theia Mimi. We used to spend hours together during the summer puttering around her garden. She taught me a great deal about flowers: how deep they need to planted, what the best conditions are for them to thrive.

All these years later, I still enjoy planting. It's incredibly good therapy for me. And makes me feel like I'm doing something for Mother Earth. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The Earth laughs in flowers."

Digging in the dirt - splashing color in my yard - also makes me think of Theia Mimi and the times we shared. The other day when I was at Home Depot buying chrysanthemums, I decided it was about time that I passed on the knowledge of, and the love for, gardening that Theia Mimi had shared with me. So last night after work, Niko helped me plant.

Just like Mimi and me, we had a great time.

It's Just My Imagination

When I was a kid, I had a very vivid imagination. I remember once in college my friend, Aimz, advising me never to drop acid because, "With your imagination, honey, you'll have a really freaky trip."

My Theia Mimi once baffled my cousin Chris' oldest kids by telling them that when I was their age, all I needed to entertain myself was two small blocks of wood - each with a small nail pounded into it - and a piece of string. Those bits of 2x4 were my boat used to ferry the animals from my old farm set all over the sidewalk-river looking for a good spot to colonize.

I said I had a vivid imagination; I never said I wasn't totally weird.

Although Gus certainly has a good imagination - I remember once watching him smiling from ear-to-ear as he pictured himself as Batman when he grew up - Niko seems to really be in tune with his more creative side. I think it may be the influence of having an older brother, who doesn't always want to play with you. Left to your own devices, you can create any world you'd like.

Almost daily I hear him talking to himself as he plays with his toys. Rather like mine, his story-lines are pretty complicated, and his sound effects are Oscar-worthy!

Just tonight, after dinner, he was spinning an intricate plot involving Godzilla and a couple of other monsters in which alliances were made and broken, and powers came and went.I say good for him.