Garden tools

So this picture, the first I have ever posted is from a couple of years ago when Augusta and I went on retreat at Shantivanum.  That is the last time I remember it being so HOT!  What I really wanted to do was to teach myself how to post pictures on this blog and talk a little about what I have been doing.  I would love to add pictures showing the gardening and the hard work I have been doing, but I can't figure that out yet....not sure how this picture and a couple others were saved in a format that was accessible to me because they were all taken on my camera.....a mystery.

There is something very satisfying about really hard work and gardening.  To put a great physical effort into something and change the landscape brings immense satisfaction.  There are no personalities to deal with,  no petty grievances, it is always straightforward and you can solve your problems with a mattox, a hose, some flowers, and some mulch....I especially like using the mattox these days, and use it every chance I get; which is often if you are digging up the ground in Clarks Summit and other parts of northeast Pennsylvania.  It is so rocky here.  Today we dug up a rock that has to weigh well over 50 pounds.  I am not kidding,  This is the reason I wish I could take a picture with my phone and convey it here to this page.

A mattox is a tool that I just acquired this year when I volunteered to help with the trails at Lackawanna State Park.  It is used before a shovel to loosen up really rocky dirt, and there is a flat edge on one side to chop roots or tree trunks that are buried. This is sort of like the one I have only the one I have is smaller with a yellow handle.  So for now, because it is so hot, my plan is to read books for the rest of the day....g.