Four things, of varying importance, happened to me today.
1)I drove eighty miles (round trip) to attend a birthday party for a three year old. My brother-in-law's son.
2) I got a summons to jury duty, my first. Or rather, I have to call in with my number for the next three weeks and see if I get the joy of serving. My only experience with jury duty is watching Fred Flintstone get menaced by the Mangler. (Remember that episode?)
3. I finally chopped my way through the old black walnut log that came down on the backyard fence in our last hurricane. Now I can finally clean up the mess of honeysuckle and brambles that has taken over that corner of the yard. As I was yanking up those invasive vines and discovering to my sorrow that equally invasive English ivy is among them, I had a thought: Nature always wins. Anti-environmentalists like to tell us the earth will survive whatever man throws at it. That fact is probably true. But just WHAT part of nature will survive? Not the exquisite, the awe-inspiring, the delicate. Rather, such nasties as poison ivy, Norway rats, tree of heaven, pond scum and cockroaches. Is that the world we want for our children?
4. I learned the significance of the ash tree in ancient European mythology. And I read an amazing account, so interesting that I'm going to give it its own post.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
My day
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3 comments:
Have fun, ECD, though I don't envy you.
If memory serves, back in Ancient Greece people were supposed to do anything in their power to avoid jury duty -- in fact, if someone seemed glad about serving he was immediately under suspicion of corruption.
And they say we live in a strange society.
Trisia:
Ancient Greece was indeed a strange place. Most of the classic writers and intellectuals that we so admire, would be in jail if they showed up in the modern world -- they were all raging pederasts.
And they had a tendency to banish the best and brightest among them, who often got rather upset about it and went off to join their enemies.
As you may recall, I served Jury Duty this past summer. I think that the call in feature is a much better solution than sitting around for days on end...
I know honey suckle is invasive, but I do love it. The smell on the morning or evening air is just heavenly.
And while the species you mention are certainly not fan favorites, they do serve a purpose in a balanced ecosystem. Opportunists are necessary, but we must not live in a way that allows them to run rampant. Looking forward to learning about the significance of the ash tree...
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