Mantidae Mantis religiosa. My young Mantis friend visited my arm last evening as I sat out on the porch reading. This is the third time I've been blessed with one of these characters. I talk to them, make sure they feel welcome, gently place them safely when I need to leave.
Got through the annual Safety Training Day, they were remarkably well organized, no groups bunching up while others lingered. It was boring, but not belabored. Home by 1300. New manager participated with us. OR staff are all behaving like bullied & abused children, a bit unruly once given a bit of respite, acting out, testing limits then flinching, expecting to be hit again. New manager has a job ahead of her, we are all so wary, so much pent up frustration, so distrustful. Various people barging into the power gap, trying to boss others around. So many neglected problems we weren't allowed to fix, clutching long nailed fingers at the edges of the door, scrabbling to get through first. Like a nightmare, one of those dull, vaguely horrifying nightmares.
Needed to feel competent and useful once I got home. So, we got a couple of strips of the grass paper up. Took a bit of thinking, but once we got to the sticking place, all went well. Still have trimming at the edges. We're not covering all the walls, that would look a bit tacky. just a few strips down each wall, give it light and texture, and not add so much paint. A long project, with stripping the door and window frames, finishing the wood, paint, and planning some sort of decorative edging tape for the grass-paper, give it framing since the edges are a bit raw. Such a wonderful aroma, fresh cut grass.
VERY not finished. The photos do not do it justice, it really warms and brightens the room, covers the badly patched area of wall. And, no, it's not supposed to match.
I remembered, sitting out in the garden, that I once had a job watering a professor's garden for a couple of weeks. It was fairly extensive, with a lot of rare plants (so he told me) and a complex method of turning on various sprinkler systems for X amount of time. This was when I was always looking to add a little casual cash to my meagre income. Not an especially pretty garden, I thought. What I would likely consider landscaping these days. Nothing wrong with landscaping, it's just not a garden. First time he was on vacation, I faithfully followed instructions, got paid, and never really wanted to return. Too much water wasted in a drought, I thought, in a desert. Plant cactus, I thought.
The next time he called me to water, I resisted. My life was unraveling, the divorce imminent, but he pressed, offered more pay, and I was too distracted to say NO directly. I watered a few of the days, and largely blew him off, and damn his precious imports, to his anger. Not that I cared. Nor did I go back for the money, which seemed fair to me. I'd failed him, but I didn't get paid either. In survival mode, my sin was in agreeing, when I didn't even have enough capacity to clearly refuse.
Caring can only be done, can't pay anyone else to do your caring for you.
And always make it easy for people to say "no."
Be kind to mantis younglings, too.
8 comments:
i like it. and i understand the feeling of needing to be useful.
i've taken on my own walls, and have been painting the living room and kitchen, piece by piece (somehow i cannot face doing it all at once).
god, i wish i knew how to say no sometimes - it seems to be one of the hardest things. it does get easier with age, but not easy. and you know, i never realised before that i also make it easy for people to say no! i try to not contribute to the misery, in this one small way.
holy smokes! i don't know what happened! please delete the many repeats!
pc,
No prob, I have a mop.
I've seen this before, which sucks because the issue of accidental multiple comment posts had been solved for years, and now it's broken again.
I figure it's better to start with no, which is easily turned into a yes. The other way doesn't work so well, you're kinda stuck with it. There's even a parable about that. Although I tended to think the first son was just being sarcastic.
There's a kind of satisfaction in looking back to times when you can now say, no, that really wasn't reasonable, I've nothing to feel bad about, though it was maybe all confusion at the time.
In Greece, I remember, they said it was lucky to let a mantis walk over your hand. Amazing creatures.
Lucy,
Sure made me feel fortunate. They seem so expressive and curious.
btw, Zhoen, i deleted a comment you made on my blog and reworked one of the post sentences partly because of paranoia, and partly because said paranoia has generally kept me out of trouble. your comment, however, was duly noted: all things noted, and responses always featuring a great deal of back-up. thank you for your support.
pc,
It's your blog, you have to do what you deem best. I would never think to even question that. One of the best pieces of advice when I got a troll many years ago, was to delete any comment if it made me feel uncomfortable, for any reason, for no reason. Trust instincts, always start there. No explanation necessary, especially not to me.
You have my support, rah, rah, rah!
I can't recall ever having seen a mantis here.
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