Gourds and goals

I must be feeling better because now my mind is spinning with all the things I want to do in addition to all the things I have to do. S and i just planted pansies. S is a very neat, everything in its place kind of kid. She was very upset at first about taking the pansies out of their six packs, and spent some time trying to put them back in. After she recovered from the horror of getting her hands dirty while trying to put things back where they GO which seems to be her mission in life right now, I managed to convince her flowers go in the dirt. She was skeptical, but gave in.

My mother taught me well, when you are overwhelmed by things that need attending, go out and garden. While not the most productive teaching, in terms of accomplishing things that need to get done, it sure does wonders for the mood. Which for me is half the battle.

The gardening can backfire. Last spring, I noticed a bunch of things sprouting from wherst I had laid the compost. I was curious and let the sprouts develop to plants. They got bigger, flowered, fruited, and then I wondered how many I could grow. This competitive streak can backfire, too. I grew gourds last year, is what ended up happening. Many gourds. Because I could. Becasue they just happened. After a pretty cool fall display, giving away gourds to anyone who would take them, and experimenting with the gourd drying process, I now have 20 dried gourds taking up space in my universe, ready to become bird houses like their mother, or whatever else it is gourds want to be when they grow up.

J asked the other day, "is it time to throw the gourds away yet?"
"Throw them AWAY?!"
"Well, what are you going to do with them all?"
"I don't KNOW. I have PLANS..." (don'taskdon'task...)
He dropped the subject. He knows me. He loves me. Maybe he'll get a gourd hat.

Yeah, I don't really have a gourd plan. The gourd plan is not as important as say, for example, the tax plan. Our taxes were just delivered via mail man bearing dog treats. I heard somewhere if you are overwhelmed, it helps to break up what overwhelms you into smaller steps. Today my goal is to open the envelope the taxes came in. Maybe thats too lofty. Maybe my goal can be to bring the envelope inside. And I've already done that. I reached a goal! See? I can too reach my goals.

Back to the gourds. I thought about painting them, but can't decide if they should be red or blue. I thought about making wind chimes out each of them, and hanging them all together. Might not be a popular choice for the neighbors. I thought about stringing them together and making candle holders out of them. That is probably a fire hazard. Any of these gourd plans take take longer than I have to spend on the gourds. I have already spent longer that I should thinking about the gourds, and now writing abut the gourds.

Weren't gourds currency at one time? Can I use them to pay taxes?