Basking in the Solar Rays

I spent a lovely couple of hours (in blessed peace and quiet) out in the greenhouse yesterday. Sometimes I play podcasts while I work, but yesterday I enjoyed the silence. I planted cucumbers—two kinds—butternut squash, and zucchini. I did quite a few of all of these because we never seem to have enough at the plant sale. The trays have covers on them to keep little rodents from digging up the seeds, but I have extra seeds in case that happens.

When the sun is out, the greenhouse warms up nicely. Part of the reason we don’t use the greenhouse in the winter is because we just don’t get enough sun here. Heat is great, but plants won’t grow in a hot, dark greenhouse.

I have started tracing the Emerald dress. I found some fabric in the stash—a four-yard length from Walmart—that will work nicely as a muslin. Cutting the pattern pieces will require me to use our bedroom floor, as they have to be laid out over a large single layer of fabric and positioned on the bias, but once they’re cut, the dress should go together quickly.

I ran across this intriguing pattern a few days ago. This is the Ina Top by Juliana Martejevs.

This top fascinates me from a construction standpoint, although it isn’t something I would wear. The color-blocked sections are joined together with a contrasting serger stitch and stretched to create a lettuce edge.

Late yesterday afternoon, I recorded a podcast interview with a guest—it will be next week’s episode—that I enjoyed very much. Truly, getting to talk to these creative people is the best part of having a podcast.

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After my blog rant yesterday, the following popped up in my Facebook feed. The husband and I listen to Jordan Peterson occasionally. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he often provides food for thought, and what he said, below, resonated. Before someone comes at me for posting this, I am aware that there are many causes of depression and many effective ways to treat it, but certainly, each of us must take responsibility for our behavior.

Take Your Place In The Hierarchy (Jordan Peterson)

If you want to take your place properly in the hierarchy, part of your goal is to be a good person. We have a very old system in our nervous systems that keeps track of where we are in hierarchies, and it regulates our emotions. If you are not a complete psychopath, then you have a place in a social hierarchy. You are admired, respected, and valued by other people — and the neurochemical system that keeps track of that regulates your other emotions.

If you are low on the totem pole, for whatever the reason happens to be—sometimes you deserve it or sometimes it is accidental—your serotonin levels plummet, and you feel much more negative emotion and much less positive emotion about everything. That is clinical depression. So, it is absolutely crucial that you maintain a tenable position in the hierarchy—not one of power but one of competence. Even if you are not in a position that is tenable, you must be moving upward toward one that is—because that gives you hope.

People hit runs of bad luck and situations that can take them out of life—unfortunate illnesses, betrayal, and so on. There is no shortage of randomness and horror that can wipe you out even if you are doing your best. But you do not have a better plan than to do your best, and it tends to work much better than you think it will. Hierarchies are set up on reciprocity, skill, and trust. Almost everywhere, if you go above and beyond the call of duty in an intelligent way—interpersonally, socially, and with regard to the diligence of your work, the truth of your attitude, and courage—that will work.

Do your best. How simple, and how difficult.