Robinson Crusoe, Staring at Goats, and the Beautiful Flowers....

The other day as I drove over the rolling prairie to the vast land of Stanley, ND, I somehow stumbled upon The Thomas Jefferson Hour, (your weekly conversation with America's third president) on the always wonderful Prairie Public Radio. As I listened I became enlightened as to the story of Robinson Crusoe (trusty SparkNotes can give you the synopsis). Seriously, for someone who spent six years traveling the wonderful road to a degree in literature and writing, I have never read Robinson Crusoe completely. I know, that's why even the English majors are doomed to stupidity and ignorance.

Anyway, so Crusoe passes up the opportunity to live an average life as an attorney and sets sail on the tempestuous seas. Of course, he becomes shipwrecked and is perfectly content that he was acquired enough raisins on the island to last him the entire year. He returns to the wreckage and finds a bag, a simple satchel. He shakes the bag and seeds fall out of it onto the ground. Later, Crusoe finds barley and rice growing right where the seeds had dropped.

Crusoe was able to create bread from a few dropped seeds out of a bag the rats had left behind on an abandoned shipwreck. And wisely, Crusoe takes half of the seeds from his first crop and plants them again, storing away the remaining seeds in the event of the annihilation of the crop.

The story suddenly struck me as so indicial of life and the basic principle of finding the very thing that will sustain you when you are seemingly stranded, empty, alone and without any comestibles.

God sets before us a forest of possibilities and provisions from even the driest of deserts, just when we think all we'll ever find is some raisins.

Some very deep thoughts from a housewife sitting in her sun room at almost midnight trying to watch The Men Who Stare At Goats, which is so truly hilarious and is all about the jedi soldiers the army has trained to kill goats in Iraq just by staring at them.

"So how does that work, these psychic powers?"

"Well it's different for different people," explains George Clooney. "Clear the mind. One guy, he pictures packing all of his troubles into a little suitcase...I find drinking helps."

Oh the vibrant, unexplored colors of the earth that would be appear before us if we would only choose to pull out a suitcase, lovingly place each and every care and trouble into it, zip it up, put some postage on it and send it off to Tahiti. What a biblical principle that is.

Or I suppose you could find some strong alcohol too, keeping in mind that the innate problem with alcohol is that the amount needed to truly numb the troubles will lead to a slow and painful death. I'd much rather be killed instantly in a piano-falling-on-the-sidewalk kind of incident.

Oh and then there's this line from the movie, "Then we trained for invisibility."

"You mean you can actually make yourself invisible?" asks the reporter.

"Well that was the goal but eventually we adapted it to just not being seen," explains Clooney.

Too funny. But maybe you just have to be me to find that truly hilarious.

And the view from the sun room has been great today....which has made for some deep thoughts.















Gardening is the key to any good housewifery.