When we started dating, the metaphor I first tried to sell to Bette was "a good marriage is like a high performance engine." She wanted to like it. She tried to like it. But she wasn't able. She didn't like the analogy between machines and relationships. I thought, at first, that I could explain it to her if I could match up the fine points, but I know next to nothing about internal combustion engines of any kind, so that didn't work either. Besides, the principal use I had in mind for that metaphor was that if you want the engine to run right, you don't run it on cheap gas.
Eventually I gave up on the engine analogy and Bette and I are working together on a new one. A good marriage is like a garden. I have added a look at our current garden so you will get the idea. The dilemma with metaphors is that you want a few of the major points to match, but you don't want to turn it into an allegory. Oddly, Bette is the one who wants to allegorize. As far as I really want to go with the garden metaphor is that nothing you can do can make up for the failure to have really good soil. Good soil is rich enough to feed the plants. It drains well. It is placed where it can get enough, but not too much, sun.
That's really all I know. I do know it is really hard to start with bad soil and turn it into good soil. That's what dating is for, I guess. I know that if you have bad soil and get, as a result, bad crops, most of the things you are likely to do first are not good things to do. If you want to make fundamental improvements, you are going to have to move the garden to the right place and/or amend the soil so that it will support the crops you want to grow and/or so that it will drain properly.
Bette has been relentless about this particular garden. She didn't do anything until she had the soil the way she wanted it. These beds are at the south and west sides of our house so it gets a lot of sun. There is a lot of the food the plants like best in the soil. Bette can irrigate to her heart's content, because the soil drains really well all the way down to the clay level. Whatever you might want to say about Bette's metaphors, there is nothing wrong with her garden.
The beds you are looking at are beets, peas, lettuce, arugula, spinach, bell peppers, carrots, onions. The edge of the jungle you see to the right is all tomatoes. We are eating really well right now
Eventually I gave up on the engine analogy and Bette and I are working together on a new one. A good marriage is like a garden. I have added a look at our current garden so you will get the idea. The dilemma with metaphors is that you want a few of the major points to match, but you don't want to turn it into an allegory. Oddly, Bette is the one who wants to allegorize. As far as I really want to go with the garden metaphor is that nothing you can do can make up for the failure to have really good soil. Good soil is rich enough to feed the plants. It drains well. It is placed where it can get enough, but not too much, sun.
That's really all I know. I do know it is really hard to start with bad soil and turn it into good soil. That's what dating is for, I guess. I know that if you have bad soil and get, as a result, bad crops, most of the things you are likely to do first are not good things to do. If you want to make fundamental improvements, you are going to have to move the garden to the right place and/or amend the soil so that it will support the crops you want to grow and/or so that it will drain properly.
Bette has been relentless about this particular garden. She didn't do anything until she had the soil the way she wanted it. These beds are at the south and west sides of our house so it gets a lot of sun. There is a lot of the food the plants like best in the soil. Bette can irrigate to her heart's content, because the soil drains really well all the way down to the clay level. Whatever you might want to say about Bette's metaphors, there is nothing wrong with her garden.
The beds you are looking at are beets, peas, lettuce, arugula, spinach, bell peppers, carrots, onions. The edge of the jungle you see to the right is all tomatoes. We are eating really well right now
Yes, this makes perfect sense to me.
ReplyDelete