« Hermit Diary 53. Few Words for this Horror. | Main | Hermit Diary 55. Inside, Outside, and Elsewhere »

January 18, 2021

Comments

The terrarium is a deceptively tricky environment to manage, as is our world. In the mid-70s, I worked in a plant store, and terrariums were the trendy thing to buy. Customers often wanted to cram the terrarium too full of specimens; to the owner's credit she advised against that, but people wanted them to look lush from day one. Then plants would fail and they'd be back for more; they cycle kept repeating till they became frustrated and threw them out.

I think of your metaphor and extend it to that behaviour, and the obvious parallel: do we have a sense of 'enough', and are we habituated to having more than we can take care of?

You have a fascinating desk. But do you think you will eventually move on to cultivating bonsai?

Oh, I like your little world. You make it, and it grows as it can and changes. And then you take watercolor--so mutable itself--and make it unchangeable and set a little guard on it.

Good cheer despite all!

The comments to this entry are closed.

My Photo

Who was Cassandra?


  • In the Iliad, she is described as the loveliest of the daughters of Priam (King of Troy), and gifted with prophecy. The god Apollo loved her, but she spurned him. As a punishment, he decreed that no one would ever believe her. So when she told her fellow Trojans that the Greeks were hiding inside the wooden horse...well, you know what happened.

MY SMALL PRESS