A Misty View into the Valley

How do you cut and shave a hedge? With a pair of scissors, you Dumbo...Such would be most likely the answer. But this is not the only way to handle this question. Of course, there are always more possibilities. But what I am meaning here is that among all those possibilities one way of framing this question is mostly forgotten. Some of my friends here will tell that Tyn is trying again to transmit his message on cutting and shaving as a kind of exercise. Maybe I’m getting a bit boring on this approach.

But what in fact I’m hinting at is that when I am standing on a wall, keeping my balance, while cutting and shaving the hedge, I find myself almost forced into this kind of non-instrumental approach. Trying to transcend all kinds of inconveniences or obstacles - and I have still a long way to go before this garden job will be done - I have to mind my posture from back to arms and hands not to overstress some muscles. Not to uphold my breathing while bending over to tackle a difficult part. Being attentive not to put my feet over the edge of the wall and fall down on the street. Meanwhile you try to stay as relaxed as possible. This is Fun..

By the way, the sun faded through the thick mist just for a quarter of an hour. The hedge was all wet. And I was getting wet too. I must say that inspite of this negative description, I did like doing the afternoon garden job. But I had to make some effort to keep my spirit on a different level than that of aiming to reach a clear and definite technical goal. Meanwhile Willemien too was doing a straining job, climbing halfway up the garden hill to tackle the monster Laurels from behind. I could see her. And we both did our work in silence.

But we are proud of the way in which we made progress, overcoming our ill-will or laziness. And this proudness adds to our entire endeavour to engage on this Weser Upland adventure, which still is a strange mix of luck, fate, imagination, hard work, planning, serendipity, intuition, miracle, shouldering and providence. You can’t understand it at all. How this opportunity was offered to us as a gift, which we hope to care for and enjoy. The parts and the totality, from the hedges up to the roof, from the Guardian Oak and its Leaves. Doing the jobs as an act of Gratitude, in a mindful effort to honour and transcend the material aspects of this green living place.