To be, or not to be an idler

my small garden with a creek

"Every man is, or hopes to be, an idler."
Samuel Johnson "Selected Essays (Penguin Classics)"

That being said, I myself am always struggling to have a balance of wanting to be an idler, and not getting bored. Beading and Gardening for me are the perfect tools to achieving that goal. Whenever boredom sets in, I either play with beads or do gardening. Beading takes more focus, so it is better form of meditation. However, once a piece of jewelry is finished, it is final. You can no longer add or take away components, unless you cut it up and start all over again. A garden is never finished in a sense. There are always weeds you have to dig up, plants becoming way too invasive that you need to control or those that have grown too big you have to divide them. Of course, there are other creatures that live in your garden that you have to think about how to control them so they do not do too much harm to your plants. On days when there is nothing for you to do, you can still observe the progress of things growing and enjoy the flowers. We made a tiny creek in our garden so it is absolutely amazing to hear the sound of the water running while enjoying the sun.

Playing with beads (c-cassia.com) brings me in a little bit of income. Gardening so far only costs money. Now, if only I can grow my own vegetables that will offset the expense. Our garden is very small (see the picture). Temporally, it is not feasible to grow vegetables yet (only because I do not want to sacrifice the flower garden). We are constantly thinking of a way so that we can have a bigger garden.