I'm doing a lot of reading, really I am, but I'm also taking a great deal of pleasure in my home, especially the plants. I don't know why it pleases me so much, to repot some begonias in a tall grey stoneware pot, or to find roses pale pink in the center, shading to white, shading to pale green at the fringes (I believe they're called "Parade"). I like the green and white composition, the newness of spring leaves, the promise of the single rosebud on the rose plant (top left) that has miraculously survived on my windowsill since last fall. I love the exuberance of the lemon balm, and the wake-me-up scent of it, crushed against my fingers. I like watering the plants, and over-watering them, and watching Zoe over-water them some more. I even enjoy mopping up the water that overflows.Maybe it's the contrast to all the intellectual activity, the critical theory thoughts bumping up against each other. Today I'm re-reading Spivak's wonderful essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak?", and even though she's one of the more readable of the post-structuralist critics (is post-structuralist a reasonable name for her? She's working in the Marxist tradition in that essay -- but she's talking quite a bit about Derrida -- in any case, that's the relevant part when you're talking about being hard-to-understand, 'cause Marx and Foucault and Said are actually pretty straightforward; they don't seem as fond of the big words as some of the others), she does make my head hurt sometimes (like this sentence probably did to you).
So it's nice, coming out to my dining room to check e-mail, letting my eyes rest for a few minutes on the cool green harmony of my plants. The hydrangea's soft watercolor blue contrasts so well wth the lean green leaves of our new bamboo (which we found someone abandoning on Sunday, as they planned to move into a home with lower ceilings). And of course, it's even more restful when Kevin's home, feet up on the edge of the couch, thinking about math. That's what's keeping me sane. Plants and Kevin.
Aw, Kevin’s got the L.L. Bean shearling slippers. Me too.
PS. You were right, that bamboo is much, much too big for your apartment. Yes, I definitely think you should get rid of it. For the sake of your domestic harmony, I’m willing to take it off your hands.
Heh. First we’ll see whether it gets enough light in my apartment. If not, you can definitely have it. But it seems okay so far, at least. So we’ll leave with it for a month or so, see what we think. You’ll know by WisCon. 🙂