Crabby Muses Dig Bigger Holes!

Look at the color of these portulaca! They've outdone themselves. I purchased them as a sort of impulse while shopping for doggie chew bones at a local discount store, thinking to have them supplant the expiring violas in the two containers by the front/side door. Holy cow; they've really repaid my investment. Here's one of the two containers:

There's also a hefty coleus and Japanese ornamental corn in the mix. I'm more than happy with the overall planting, which is a good thing as I'm not happy with much recently and that's made my muses crabby.
Gardening has been a healing force or energy in my life so many times previously. Whenever the world seems out of control or just amazingly fucked up, gardening has been there for me. I guess it's as simple as urging pretty things to grow; color, texture, smell... all of that reward for coaxing seeds and cramming annuals into tight spaces! It's also a way fro me to be creative without the expectations and demands of art making.
Don't get me wrong- they are very different impulses. But sometimes while in my studio, I can be overwhelmed with the "weight of the world" and feel awash in cosmic junk. Mass shootings, a government run amuck, child sex predators (good riddance Jeffery Epstein!)... good grief! People can really suck! And that's just the external stuff. I have the internal voices yodeling along, complaining about the perfidy of the "art world". The "why am I not rich and famous?" Or even, "why am I not famous?" (fuck the rich part!!) It can feel very dispiriting to keep making the best work that you can, really pour your heart/mind/soul into producing rigorous art and still feel like you're screaming into a giant vacuum. And creeps like Jeffery Epstein and The Orange Menace are rich and powerful... (until they're not, I guess!)

Anyway, that's part of the reason I spend a lot of time gardening. It quiets all the noise that raves and rages inside and out. I spend a good deal of time, now that it's a bit cooler, digging up a new-ish area and moving some things around and planting birthday gifts. It's felt so good and I find myself humming tunelessly to myself as my muses and I trench out big holes.