Monday's Musings  "Man's Best Friend Teaches a Lesson"


Saturdays are for steeping, yes, but sometimes Saturdays are for weeding...and not for writing.  So, Mondays sometimes are for apologies...I am sorry to say that weeding left no time for writing a new post on Saturday.

I have news for you....weeding is a good thing and much underrated!    If you luck out and the day you designate to do this typically dreaded job turns out to be a The Perfect Spring Day, then weeding is even better!  Such was my good luck on Saturday.  After throwing in the first load of laundry, I happily took myself outdoors to attack the daunting chore of weeding three very large planting beds that had not been weeded since last spring, and in places it was hard to discern the plant from the weed!  With my tools, water, cell phone, and towel for kneeling all arranged, and with iPod firmly planted in my ears, I set about my task.  As I yanked out my first cluster of clover (hundreds would follow) thriving beautifully underneath the lovely bleeding heart plant, I wondered just who was it who decided exactly what deserves elevation to plant classification and what deserves condemnation as the lowly weed?  The first of many musings.  Weeding is really good for letting your mind wander and steep...it is one of the few things left that fairly demands our full attention.  Its necessarily slow pace requires us to "keep down with it" and toss our normal frenetic pace aside like an unwanted dandelion.  Well, if you properly approach the task, which I had not, but fortunately Frawley would show me the way.


After about a half hour of pulling and yanking, while singing along with my iPod, and interrupted by  the occasional phone call, text message, and a dash inside to switch the laundry, Frawley, my 9 year old chocolate lab came out to keep me company.  Settling just a few feet from me and directly on the soil that I had freshly turned over, Frawl immediately showed me the error of my ways!  She sniffed for a bit, obviously enjoying the fragrant soil and the thousands of things she was likely smelling in it (she's addicted to scents, too!)  She happily accepted my pats and then she just simply laid there...enjoying herself, and me, and everything!  I returned to my task, but looked over at her occasionally.  When a breeze rose up, I saw her lift her head to listen keenly and she moved it back and forth as if she was savoring the feel of it on her face, under her ears.  When several times a small blackbird swooped over us and landed in the yard before taking off again, she happily watched, without budging.  She turned every so often to listen to the birdsong and see where it came from.  And when I picked up my red towel to begin a new section, she patiently relocated herself closer and settled into the dirt again with a growly, contented sigh.   I returned a text message or two, ran in to start a second load, hummed and pumped my brain with notes and lyrics, chased random thoughts across my mind, and yanked and pulled, fretting over my pace and my prospects of getting it done in time.  But it was Frawl who was "getting it done" by her silent example.  (We would be wise to always remember how example is profoundly more effective speech.)  Without saying a word, Frawl taught me how to do it better...how to be completely present to my task.  Forget the phone, yank out the earbuds, the hell with the timer on the laundry and on the day and simply BE in the task, lift up my head once in a while,  and enjoy what was to be enjoyed!  Thanks, Frawl!


Later on when I left her to empty my bucket of weeds into the barrel out front, I returned to find Frawl waiting for me...sunning herself on my red beach towel!  Maybe we're not so different after all!  Or, she's got a really good sense of irony and humor!?

Thanks for reading.  Let it steep!