Dreaming

Tis the season -- i.e., the gray, chill days of winter when gardeners pour over seed catalogs and dream of flowers and garden veggies. Not me. I am not, never have been, don't ever expect to be a gardener. When seed catalogs fill others] mailboxes mine is full of 2007 catalogs of adventures and foreign trips of all sorts ... and my little heart goes pitty-pat as I look at the mountains and rivers, the llamas and camels, elephants and koalas. When gardeners are reading about planting times, I am reading daily itineraries ... dreaming, dreaming.

So many places I haven't seen ... I'm not thinking much about cities, rather wide countryside,l natural places with animals and vistas. I've seen a lot of cities and they are not all alike, of causer, but they are now all dense. While there is beautiful art yet to see, I am not very interested in luxury eating or staying in another hotel that looks like every other international hotel. I have not seen any of Australia or New Zealand. I've seen very little of South America and nothing of sub-Saharan Africa. Three large, large continents yet to explore. I'm content to let Antarctica keep it's white secrets but the other, and then the many islands: Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Iceland, Tasmania and all of Indonesia ... ah ... so many trips offered ...

At the moment I'm reading a book called THE ABYSSINIAN by a Frenchman, Jean-Christophe Rufin. It's set in the 17th century and, of course Abyssinia is today's Ethiopia ... one of the catalogs has a trip to Ethiopia -- a rarely offered destination --and I've spoken to people who have been there who say it's fascinating. So many places really ARE exotic. meaning nothing at all like the tame, green towns I've lived in or the busy cities I know well.

Okay, I admit I'm still limping from the results of my fall during my last trip ... not a deterrent to dreaming. Not at all. Does a gardener stop smellng imaginary roses because she has arthritis and it hurts to kneel and plant? No way. Life is short and the world is big and, unfortunately, finances are limited so I have to be very choosy ... thus, weeks of pondering ...

Shopping today for mats in which to put butterfly postcard size quilts, I found the bargains were in mats that already had pictures in them -- but removable. This is one I may keep as is. The Zen saying, like others that are not unanswerable paradoxes, says a lot in a few words. For those who have trouble reading the picture is says: The quieter you are the more you hear. ... On the same note, I'm reading a magazine with interviews with well known quilters, Ruth McDonald said something very similar that I will paraphrase as The more you pay attention, the more you see. And, says Ms. McDonald, seeing is what every artist must be good at doing. I agree with the Zen master and with the Quilt masterpiece maker.