Thursday, March 21, 2013

Like A Millionaire!

Sometimes I feel like a Millionaire, rich beyond belief.  My garden always makes me feel this way, the ability to pick fresh fruits and vegetable right off the vine.  Corn in season should be picked while the water is still boiling.  Directly from the plant to the pot, locking in the sugars before they can turn to starch.  Really good sun ripened tomatoes can't be bought and not even the Kings of England enjoyed them.  There is nothing better than a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.  Young lettuce sniped from young plants simply melts in your mouth offering flavors lost in packaging from the same items found in the grocery isles. It is not the same.  Young snap peas really snap and millionaires unless they have their own garden simply do not get them.  A freshly dug carrot will carry its smell ten feet away.
    Other things make me feel wealthy, my family, my wonderful daughters, even my 128 pound dog!
It takes a lot to feed him!  Material things too but pretty simply ones.  I have had a garage door automatic opener in a box on a shelf in my shop for at least 15 years.  I have never installed one and couldn't be bothered so there it sat.  I have not locked my shop for the last fifteen years (that is the kind of town I live in, also giving me a feeling of wealth).  Just a couple days ago a neighbor was getting a new garage door and I stopped the installer and asked about my opener and could he install it?
 Opener Installed!
He did this yesterday and it cost me $75 dollars. Now, with a push of a button or entering my pin number on a key-less lock, like magic the door opens!  Like having a servant!
Of course I feel a bit foolish too.  I could have done this years ago.
 A stockpile of Canvasses!

 A big supply of paint!
"Craigslist" also makes me feel wealthy.  I have told the story about finding over 200 brushes, complete rolls of canvas and other painting supplies for just 50 dollars and last night I did it again.  I got about 50 tubes of unopened oil paints and ten canvasses, stretched on their frames all for $60, and a bunch of brushes thrown in.

I have a nice warm studio between my office and my shop,
lots of steel easels and now lots of canvas, brushes and paint.  No excuses now!
    I have new tires on my little truck, also thanks to Craigslist and that Tom-Tom GPS thingy I told you about. What can be richer than that?  And, of course, the brand new roof on my house!
I am lucky but am reminded of the saying, "The harder I work, the luckier I get."
A garage door opener!  Who would of thought?  My friends will never believe me.
More about my garden, my art and what I do is here:  http://www.ArtWanted.com/slate 

3 comments:

Rama Ananth said...

Didn't I tell you that you had absolutely nothing to worry about. And such a person is indeed a millionaire.
And I am Millionaire's friend.

Barbra Joan said...

Jerry, you are rich in ways that count. In ways that matter to the planet..
I've known you for about 4 years.
Knowing you, has made me rich. Allowed me to understand things that I THOUGHT were important, but as the saying goes, 'didn't amount to a hill of beans'.
BJ

Optimistic Existentialist said...

Sir...this is truly what "rich" is. you are an inspiring soul and I am proud to say I know you on here.