My writer's world, a tip or two, what's up with me, and baseball too
A derogatory term for sure…except if you’re a gardener. I’m talking about saving seeds from the flowers, herbs, or vegetables you grow this year so you can plant them again next year. I’ve been doing this for a long time now, ever since I started my first vegetable garden up in Maine. Some people call these heirloom seeds and have even made a business of collecting them and selling them. Me, I do it for my own enjoyment…and to save a little money, of course.
If you garden, harvesting seeds is one of the few good things about fall. Don’t get me wrong, I love fall but I hate seeing my garden die; the vibrant green of summer fading away and finally changing into the dull brown of winter. One of the ways I get through that time of year is to gather the dying flowers, dry them, and then harvest the seeds. And all the while I’m dreaming of those inconspicuous little flecks burrowing into a warm ground, drinking in the moisture from the spring rains, and swelling until the new plant pops free and unfurls its tiny green leaves.
Ever since I planted my first vegetable garden up in Maine, I’ve planted a row of marigolds along the garden fence. That first year, I bought a packet of seeds for ten cents at Walmart and every fall I dried a few of the blooms and kept the seed over the winter until I could plant them in the spring. So for the meager investment of a dime, I’ve had years of beauty and pleasure.
This year, after two years of not being able to plant a garden because I was living in an apartment, I planted seed I’d saved from my last garden in Maine. I wasn’t sure they would germinate and if they did, if they would produce flowers but they did. I had masses of gorgeous marigolds along one side of my garden fence. So now I’m back to gathering seed for next year’s garden. And I’ve branched out this year…I’m also saving seed from the zinnias and the four o’clocks I planted. Total cost of the seeds? $1.20.
Four o’clocks are an amazing flower that blooms in a wide range of bright colors. The blooms stay closed during the day but open in late afternoon, hence the name, and they have a scent to rival the best-smelling old-fashioned roses of your grandmother’s garden. The vivid colors and trumpet shaped blooms also attract hummingbirds.
As for zinnias, they’re super easy to grow and they come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. The ones I planted this year are called Lilliput, a dwarf variety that isn’t dwarf on the flowers they produced. They’re great for cut flower arrangements and my favorite thing–zinnias always make me smile when I see their happy blooms. It’s as simple as that. Of course, most flowers make me smile, but zinnias were the first flowers I ever grew from seed and like marigolds, they’re incredibly easy to grow, even for a novice gardener.
Hopefully the four 0′clock and zinnia seeds I’ve saved will do as well as the marigold seeds, but I guess only time will tell. Meanwhile, I’ll be dreaming of next year’s garden and anticipating the joy they might bring.
That’s one of my favorite quotes from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Spoken by Mayella Violet Ewell to Atticus Finch as he questions her about Tom Robinson allegedly raping her, it is, in my opinion, one of the most riveting scenes in the book and the movie.
Collin Wilcox, the actress who played Mayella in the movie, passed away of brain cancer earlier this week at her home here in North Carolina. Although she was never one of Hollywood’s elite, I think her performance in Mockingbird was one of the best ever given in a movie.
And now, ”I got somethin’ to say” of my own. Those of you who click on the above link should know that the quote in the article, which is credited only to “Popeater Staff,” is wrong. It has been shortened and sanitized, leaving out quite a few words, including a highly offensive one at the beginning of Mayella’s speech. I don’t know why they shortened it, but I can understand why they left out that word. Still, changing Harper Lee’s words without letting the reader know is almost as offensive to me as hearing the word they left out. Also, the quote is “if you fine fancy gentlemen…” not “if you fine, fancy, damn…” Huh? Beyond being wrong, that just flat-out doesn’t make any sense! I don’t read many Popeater articles, and judging by this one, I can see why. They are in serious need of an editor.
One more thing and “then I ain’t gonna say no more.” Rest in peace, Ms. Wilcox and thank you for gracing us with your exemplary performance of Mayella in the movie version of my favorite book.
ETA–New York Times article is not only better written, it’s much more informative!
Have to disagree with Yogi on that one. For diehard fans of the Red Sox, Cardinals, Rockies, and Twins, the baseball season is over and done. Not to belittle the Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies, or Angels, but I just don’t care who goes to the World Series or who wins, for that matter. Every single team I had an interest in seeing in the series has been eliminated.
I wish good luck to all the players and their managers who are still in the running. As for the umpires who seem to be getting it wrong at every turn, open your eyes and pay attention! You’ve reached your quota of questionable calls for the year and a lot of people are starting to wonder if you’re supplementing your income with ill-gotten gains while doing your best to see that certain teams win. I don’t know about that, but I would like to caution you to remember the NBA ref, what was his name? Donaghy? Something like that. Anyway, you need to remember what happened to him. Is one post-season bonus worth a lifetime of guilt and finger-pointing, not to mention never being able to work in your chosen field again?
As for my pick to win the series? The Yankees and that’s the main reason I’m not going to be paying attention to the games and/or reading any of the sports blogs. But it’s not because I hate the Yankees, I just don’t feel like reading the comments of all the people who are going to belittle the victory by saying the Yankees bought the championship–if they win, that is. You just know you’re going to be hearing an awful lot about the fact that the Yankees spent almost a quarter billion dollars in the off season just to make sure they got back to the play-offs. I can’t argue that, but I can say to all the complainers, get over it. Every single team in the league would do the same thing if they could and whining because your team doesn’t have the money to buy a championship is getting old.
Anyway, good luck to the remaining teams and oh yeah, wait till next year!
One last time until spring training:
I found this article on Asylum today, 8 Phrases That Don’t Mean What You Think They Mean by Jeremy Taylor, and since it deals with words and their meanings, I couldn’t resist adding to the series of “What’s in a word” posts I’ve been doing. Part 1 can be found here on Cait-Tales and Part 2 on the Dames of Dialogue blog. I’d promise this is the last one, but I can’t really say that because as I said in one of the previous posts, I’m fascinated by words and their meanings so I’m sure I’ll be talking about them again.
Back to the article; it deals with common phrases that are often misused and the author hit on a couple that have bothered me for a while now plus one that I’m guilty of using.
For example, “I could care less.” A lot of people use this when they really mean “I couldn’t care less.” That one gets to me every time.
Then you have ”PIN number.” When you say that, you’re actually saying Personal Identification Number number, so yeah, a little redundant. Same thing could be said for ISBN number and ATM machine. I’ve used all of those but now that I know, I hope I’ll remember not to in the future.
Another one Mr. Taylor mentions that bugs me is ”I did a 360.” Really? That means you turned completely around and ended up back in the same position you were in to start with, so unless you mean to imply that after careful thought you decided your first position was correct, don’t use it. Say “I did a 180″ or even “I did a 270,” or better yet, ”I changed my mind.”
Since I’m a writer who is constantly trying to find just the right word or words to express what I want to say, things like that probably get to me more than they do other people. And when you’re writing, you have to be even more diligent about choosing the right word.
For instance, ”it’s a mute point.” Hate that one, absolutely hate it and I see it quite a lot. Since when do points have the power of speech? It’s enough to get me to come out of lurkdom on a blog and tell the writer that a point can’t be mute but it can be ”moot.”
A few years ago, I was really into a series by one of the better-known romance authors and I noticed she used “tow the line” in several of the books. It drove me crazy–and threw me out of the story every single time. Just wham! As an author, you don’t want that. Don’t know if that’s what caused me to lose interest in the series but it could’ve been a contributing factor. I do wonder if anyone ever bothered to tell her or her editor that the correct phrase is “toe” the line?
Finally, one I’ve noticed a lot lately, and one that confuses me no matter if it’s used correctly or incorrectly, “all and all.” Please, it should be “all in all” but don’t ask me why because I really don’t know. I just know “all and all” is wrong.
I’m sure there are others and I’m sure if I were to go back and read every word I’ve written or examine every cliched phrase I’ve used in conversation, I’d find many times when I got it wrong too.
So there you have it, the final (?) post in my series about words and their meanings. Oh wait, I’m scheduled to do a post in November for the Dames of Dialogue blog on…cliches. Okay, this won’t be the last word from me on words after all…
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