My friend the farmer and beekeeper Dave, up the hill, is wont to say: you've got to look for the motive, then for the motive behind the motive, then for the motive behind the motive behind the motive.
Ticking seconds
Here's a reason I like wearing a watch again: it helps with anxiety.
Strange. I never expected that.
If I get anxious I watch the seconds tick steadily past for a few minutes and it soothes me. It seems to say, "this too shall pass." If I'm grateful for something, I'm reminded to savor and enjoy it. If I'm going through something difficult, it reminds me that eventually this, too, shall recede and fade away. If it doesn't resolve, eventually it dissolves.
I can almost get into a meditative state watching the seconds tick past. When I resume whatever I was doing, I feel more centered, resilient, and calm. The anxious feeling subsides. It's a deep breath, a time-out. A pause, like the proverbial "count to ten."
Time flows. And heals.
Soften!
I got a knock on the door the other day. It was Dave with a box of peaches. An organic heirloom cultivar called Iron Mountain, from the trees behind his house. He was driving around distributing them to all his friends. I'm waiting for them to soften, counting the seconds, minutes, hours and days.
Mike
Product o' the Week:
The brand new 2021 Apple 10.2-inch iPad (Wi-Fi, 64GB) in Space Gray. My iPad is my least necessary but most-loved Apple device. I could get by with my phone and a desktop computer, but I use this constantly and I like it best. Check out that price.
The above is a link to Amazon from TOP—anything you buy while you're there benefits TOP. B&H Photo is closed for the rest of September for Succos.
Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Peter: "We planted a peach tree in our Boulder backyard two years ago this fall. No blooms or peaches last year, but this year we harvested over 30 incredibly juicy and fruity tasting peaches. Left them on the tree until they were fully ripe and ready to be eaten. They were incredible. In late spring I culled 75% of the olive-sized peaches so the tree would have a fighting chance, and good thing I did. The 30 or so I left were really weighing it down at the end."
Mike replies: I'm no gourmet, but everyone should taste a perfect peach at least once in their lives. I had a perfect white peach last Summer than was out of this world. Can't buy them for love or money—you either have to grow them yourself or get lucky. (I feel like Kramer with the mangoes....)
On the peaches: Try putting some in a paper bag that you fold closed. I understand that peaches release ethylene as they ripen, which hastens the process. The paper bag traps the gasses without letting too much moisture build up.
Enjoy those peaches!
Posted by: Benjamin Marks | Sunday, 26 September 2021 at 11:19 AM
When I lived in Phoenix, we waited in anticipation for the Oregon late season peaches to roll into town. A coworker would get cases of them off a truck and bring them in to work for us to purchase. These peaches were a revelation compared to what I could get at the local grocery store. As Kramer once said about Oregon peaches, “they make your taste buds come alive. It’s like having a circus in your mouth.” I would imagine that anything fresh from the tree puts a grocery store peach to shame though.
A quick web search tells me that a nursery in Kalamazoo (Oikos) that has named one of their peaches the Mackinaw after the Seinfeld episode.
Posted by: Jim Arthur | Sunday, 26 September 2021 at 12:11 PM
Back in June, you asked the question, "Who wears a watch (these days)." I was one of the many who replied in the affirmative, stating that I felt so naked without a watch that I keep one in the car, just in case that I leave the house in a hurry and don't don one.
One function for me, being socially shy is the watch as a prop. I get anxious being around new people, and me being a loner, everyone is a new person. The watch allows me to do something other than make eye contact...sorry, gotta check the time. Many times I couldn't tell you the time for a million bucks after glancing at the watch. It is a social tick to escape interaction.
I don't know if the watch staves off anxiety for me, but the lack of one sure brings it on.
Posted by: Albert Smith | Sunday, 26 September 2021 at 04:31 PM
I recently got a little digital watch with a pedometer function. Didn't care for it. Didn't count correctly and the battery ran dead fast. So I have coming from Amazon a mechanical pedometer to clip on my belt and a nice analog quartz watch that caught my eye ( https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07THKJ4K6?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image )
I may have been subtly influenced by your watch talking of late... ;)
Posted by: William A Lewis | Sunday, 26 September 2021 at 07:38 PM
I had a perfect peach once, Mike, and it was quite close to you. It was from a stand on some back road, somewhere between Geneva and Penn Yan (closer to the latter). Like the mystical lady of the lake, I never found that stand again. But oh my god that peach.
Posted by: Doug Reily | Tuesday, 28 September 2021 at 02:32 PM