The Garden of Weedin'

One of my favorite sayings is, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”  According to Wikipedia, a sometimes reliable source, the saying is attributed to ”Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who wrote, "L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs" (hell is full of good wishes and desires).”

I think the reason I like that saying so much is that it applies to much in my life.  My intentions are always heart-felt, and yet often not acted upon.  I’ve paved more roads than Democrat counties after the stimulus bill.

One good intention for the summer was to keep up with the weeds in the gardens.  And, for quite a while I was successful.  Then it got really hot, and I got frustrated with not being able to see, due to the steady stream of sweat that smeared over my glasses.

Then the invasion of mosquitoes began, and, well, you know.  I don’t hate many things in life, but mosquitoes rise to that level of dislike. 

I have to admit, though, that my general laziness was a factor too.  There is always other work to do, trips to take, movies to see, email to read…  In a weak defense, however, I’d have to say that if we lived in San Diego, where there are no mosquitoes, and where it rarely gets hot, our gardens would be weed free at this point.  At least that’s what I’m claiming.

I did spend a couple of hours weeding on Saturday, since it was just breezy enough to make the spraying of Off I applied effective.  I pulled enough weeds to make a pile the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.  Not really, but I liked the imagery.  It was a big pile, though.  Another 12 hours and the vegetable garden will be weeded.  Then: the flower garden.  I heard those weeds mocking me Saturday, so I averted my gaze so as not to provoke them any further.

Frankly, I don’t even want to talk about the thistles in the pastures.  As beautiful as “thistledown” is floating on the summer breeze, each seed means more thistles next year. 

Paving the road to Hell is something I’m good at, but in my own defense I should point out that not all my good intentions go undone.  It’s just that the garden is so visible, and the weeds so big!

Eventually the mosquitoes will die, and guilt and the threat of winter will get me out there to clean things up to get ready for next spring.  In the meantime, I think the answer is to leave home each morning before sun up, and return each evening after dark. 

Another great saying: “Out of sight, out of mind.”