I was chatting with Monci the other day. He was straddling the corpus callosom in a small netted hammock made from stolen neurons and decided that I needed a little talking to. Now its not easy to converse with one's homunculus, particularly when he is insistent and intrusive. Usually the little fella is real layed back. Love listening to his musings on almost any subject. The other day though, he was taking a rather solemn tone while dealing with what he sensed to be a growing malaise. Said the signals were coming in from far and wide and pointed to despair gathering like a fur ball in the gut of a cat. "A fur ball? That's the best analogy you got?" "Yes, my liege, and it serves well the situation. You see, a fur ball takes time and forms along with pleasant morsels of food found secreted away in the folds of a couch or on the carpet behind the fridge." "Fascinating. Do go on." "Gladly, your hugeness. The illusion of pleasantness is overtaken by the need to be rid of the tangled mass of hair and fur. It is then simply a matter of this malaise being tossed out like a kitty kat convulsing its way to fur ball freedom." "And so?" "Forgive me, my all and everything but have you ever examined a fresh fur ball and not felt despair?" "Good point." He went on to tell me that he thought he tasted cesium on my head the last time it rained and that that Cousteau guy swore he would never eat fish again and that the folks in New Mexico are dining on plumes of plutonium. He said if we could see the methane pouring out of the melting polar caps, it would look like an upside down avalanche and that yes, those silver metallic looking flecks on the surface of the pond is the residue of chem trails. I tried to comfort him by saying that life is inherently weird and that the skills we should value the most are the ones that transform to "normal" that which would demand otherwise. The sip of iced tea he had just taken came shooting out his nose. "What kind of hippie hogwash is that? Is that the sequel to "it's all good" or the beginning of a new failed philosophy?" "A bit of both", I had to admit. He said if I was finished being a dipshit he would turn to the less natural and more human aspects of today's world like the hunger, resource depletion, food quality, water quality, income inequality, rampant scumbaggery, tar sands frackery and the infamous "bottom line" which is about to loose the four horse guys on their rampage to ruin. "Is there anything I can eat or drink or smoke or snort or shoot or use in suppository form that would make you feel more at ease", I asked. After quite a long silence he said, "three beers, two doobs, the stem of a mushroom, a piece of new york cheesecake, hot chocolate and a viewing of Field of Dreams." I'll get right on it. I love hanging out by the pond. With the weather turning to leeward trade wind dry, sitting with feet dangling in the water is more and more attractive. The other day, to my surprise and delight I saw what appeared to be several hundred koi fry cruising the edge of the pond. I tried to think back to when we put the first koi in and how old that would make them but that just reminded me that I don't do statistics. Happy to say, old enough to reproduce in the open pond and survive whatever onslaught of bigger fish hunger that has thus far come their way. The unstoppable urge to life. I've decided, as proud papa to name them all so that when they grow up I can train them to jump into my net when a customer picks one out for his water feature. Shouldn't be too hard to do. I will fill them with tales of their amazing ancestry, of their ability to live over two hundred years, of their proud heritage in being able to jump into fish nets on command. See where I'm going with this? Although we have seen a winter and spring season go by with some heartbreaking results when it comes to watching fruits destined for market go to ground instead, there is the largest fruit set I've ever seen on the Whitsell avo and what is looking like quite a good count on the sharwil as well. The mango's, which have gone through three flowerings with little to show just flowered for a fourth time ( not good with stats, but I don't remember that happening before). This time around, the signs look very good. Very good indeed. The longans and lychee are racing each other for most flowers and leaving their lithe floral scents breezing through the orchard. The atemoya's are pushing out new leaves and that can only mean one thing, flowers and fruit to come. If we get through this cycle of winged demon assaults and the next batch has a hard time keeping up with the dry conditions, we might could get us some abundant harvest a couple a' few months down the road. Fingers crossed. One of the best farming techniques available. The process never grows old. The observed becomes the observer. The roles played are synergy at its best and with increased focus comes the simple pleasure of being engaged in an activity which is human. Week in brief: pond liner arrived, baby koi, oh boy, Ukraine has most plays of the Ballad (how cool is that), got a sprayer so look out lace bug. Homunculus wept himself to slumber while watching Field of Dreams. And so, to bed. the more you show, the more we'll grow. peace, jp