Ooh, Babe It Ain't No Lie...

So have you ever listened to Elizabeth Cotten? Wonderful stuff, that is.

Meanwhile, where the hell have i been?
Answer: nowhere special. Nat was in Canada at the 8th Annual Logic, Math and Physics conference, presenting a paper of his that was accepted there. And the poor sap had to give his talk on his birthday! Boo. He was gone for a week, and had to take the laptop with him. At first i thought i would be fine, considering that this time 2 years ago we didn't even have a computer, and i used to always think i would never even need one... but yeah. I was hurtin' for a few days there. No email, no looking up the bus schedule, checking the weather, reading the news and all of my favorite blogs, etc.
But in a way it was a break that i needed. Instead, i burned through 4 1/2 library books and went on a lot of long bike rides, drank a few root beer floats after dinner. i enjoyed sort of an inner peace and quiet that maybe i hadn't had in quite some time. Being prone to sensory overload is a hard thing to be in this mad and crazy world. Sometimes i wish i weren't so sponge-like.

Then Mother's Day was coming up, and the flower shop that i work for from time to time during the holidays gave me a call; asked if i'd like to help out for a few days. So the past 3 have been toil, toil, and more toil. When i was younger i worked (full-time) at a flower shop, one that was actually somewhat bigger and where there was more work to do. The difference is that then, i was 23 and actually enjoyed living in the city i was living in. i was tired after work, sure, because i work hard, but i was never this tired. It's possible i'm just out of shape, but i think the reality is just that i am now older ;)
Still, it's always nice to be around flowers again, even though your hands get thoroughly trashed. i already have multiple cuts on the insides of my fingers, dry, cracked skin on my hands, and perma-dirt under the ol' fingernails. But it's nice to have proof of an honest day's hard work. i only wish the flower shop had more variety: nowhere are the sweet peas, snowball viburnum and lilacs that i used to find at my flower shop back home. Instead i sell people orchids that are dyed blue, irises, mums, gerbera daisies, lilies, alstroemeria. With fern added in at the end. Don't they know that there is so much more out there? Don't they know that you don't need every color represented in a bouquet?
People always say "oh, i would just love to work at a flower shop!" as if it's all sugar and roses. But where do you think we get our giant biceps? I'll tell you: from lifting buckets of water all day long. And i already mentioned the hands. And the constant sweeping, changing of brackish and slimy water, removing dead leaves and thorns from stems, pinching browned petals. There are many sides to a thing. i always laugh at how different the flower shop looks when you are standing on the outside looking in. You don't see the girls knee deep in green detritus, feet aching from standing all day. You don't see the tired minds trying to remember what flowers need your utmost attention, and the teeth-clenching when you help a customer who says "just make me up something nice.", and then decides that they don't like a single thing you suggest. Or when you pick out the freshest, most closed roses, and they say "i dunno.. those look a little tired." Good times!
But really, we don't care. Because we're here to give you beauty. At the cost of the farmworkers who slaved to grow (usually with pesticides) and pick these flowers for you at a very low wage. At the cost of the flower shop owners who wake up at 3 in the morning to get to the market early so that they can pick out the best and most awe-inspiring flowers for you to have in your home, all the while worrying about the straggling economy and the fact that they are working with highly perishable goods. And then we get to us, the over-worked flower girls, who come to work early and go home late, trying to be stoic and enjoy ourselves while working our fingers to the bone, so that your shopping experience is not marred, somehow.
And none of that matters when i come home with the five stems i selected based on their individual loveliness: an arching, orange french tulip; a strong, deep purple tulip; a tiny coral rose, and a perfect lavender one; the yellow dahlia with pink tinge, who resembles almost the rising sun itself.

Heaven!