This is a Conversation

My husband and I went out to dinner last night to our favorite pizza joint to celebrate his upcoming promotion. The restaurant had their TV turned to the news out of Baltimore, with live coverage of the protests. During the course of our dinner, a police car was swarmed by over a hundred people and smashed to bits, another car was set on fire, and a CVS was looted.

As I watched these events unfold, I couldn't help but think:

"This is a conversation."

Grand Opening

Yesterday, Hagerstown held its Arbor Day celebration/Community Garden grand opening. I was there. It was fun. The weather here yesterday was cold and slightly breezy, not warm enough yet to plant those tomato and pepper plants we were given. I met a few more of my fellow gardeners, including a very nice and outgoing lady who just got back from a month-long trip to China.

The local paper has an article about it that is chock full of errors, but there it is nonetheless. (Just a sample of the errors: there are 26 beds, not 24; beds cost $20 or $30, depending on size; and they aren't flower beds, in fact we plot holders are restricted as to how many flowers we can plant). No, I'm not in any of the pictures.

My plants are all coming up and need thinning. Once the weather warms up more I'll actually be able to do that without my fingers going numb after thinning just four rows of radishes.

American Sniper Screening

Because God forbid we make anyone uncomfortable.

Bubble Wrap

From a "friend" on facebook:

No, these are not "words to live by." These are words that encourage people to live in a safe little bubble-wrapped world.
How can you be "compassionate" if you "refuse to open your mind"?
How can you "feed your intellect" if you "tune out anything that promotes conflict or controversy"?

Something to Follow

With the recent coverage of various unwarranted deaths at the hand of the police around the country, any death of a person in police custody is suspicious. The investigation following the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore (whose spine was 80% severed during or after his arrest) is naturally something those of us in Maryland want to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: 4/21/15 5:30pm
So, it's looking like the reason for the arrest was that Gray ran away when a police officer made eye contact with him. Doesn't really seem like reason enough to me... There's lots of conflicting stories about this right now. Here's the most recent article I've found that covers everything (sorry, it's Fox News)

Community

The community garden is now open! Today is supposed to be a lovely day, and much rain will be following in the next few days, so today I will be going over and doing the first round of planting. Seeds to be planted today are: turnips, spinach, swiss chard, radish, cabbage, beet, and carrot.

Saturday was the orientation meeting for all the gardeners. Despite that morning being cold and windy, most people were able to show up. Such a rare sight in Hagerstown: so many people in one place, happy and optimistic, chatting with strangers, sharing tips, ideas, suggestions. I really believe that this community garden site will only be the first of many throughout the city. We're building a community in this city, at last.