Real drips are out there.

A  day of “old fashion rain” which leads to wondering exactly what is “new fashioned rain”? One that now “ponds” rather than “puddles”? A new reign of experts telling which way the weather blows.©

Spreading dirt has been popular for so long. While it causes scorn to those gracelessly mired in it, seems everyone digs it at some point. Must be a human need to grind stuff underfoot.

Surprising who gets gritty.

(Ever wonder if Hamilton era men suffered health issues from their fancy powdered wigs like the aristocratic women did from their makeup?  Dirty Little secrets…)

Thomas Jefferson:

• “Botany is the school for patience, and it’s amateurs learn resignation from daily disappointments.” (Letter to Madame de Tessé (25 Apr 1788

(So, the plot revealed.)

• “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden…But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.” (Letter to Charles W. Peale, 20 August 1811.)

(The Fountain of Youth or that  dust to dust thing? You know, Remind the little kid who was told to clean his room and spotted several large dust bunnies under the bed. “Mom, there’s someone either coming or going under the bed.”)

• “The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture; especially, a bread grain” (In Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies from the Papers of T. Jefferson. 1829).

(Food. Finally practical. Still the GMO people may have misunderstood.) 

John Adams

• “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” (Letter to Abigail Adams. 12 May 1780)

(Now this is a bit worrisome. Hope the cycle doesn’t mean the great great children have to start the sequence all over with the first one.) 

• “I had heard my father say that he never knew a piece of land run away or break.” (John Adams, Autobiography)

(So, dirt is more dependable.)

Ben Franklin (attributed)

• “A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds.”

(Perhaps more so if farming that new money crop in Colorado? At least many of those don’t get behind the wheel.)

Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Hamatreya“

• “Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
  Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
  Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet…”

And others (from authors unknown or too smart to claim it to avoid the annoyed.)

• As the gardener, such is the garden. (Old Jewish proverb)
• “Deeds are fruits, words are but leaves.” (English proverb.)

Mud pies. Mud wrestling. Mud baths. Mud flaps. Humans seem to have an obsession with dirt.

Might be the result of moving from an agricultural society to living in crowded little city boxes.

But that doesn’t explain the dirt fascination and joy of dirt by other such as elephants and pigs. Who are pretty intelligent.

Maybe smart enough to stay close to the land and draw from it.

Or they just recognize good clean fun when they see it.

Slinging in the rain. (Mud in your eye)

Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

Proprietor of local water garden sees mud of no importance. ©

 

---

Discover more from Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.