I've been thinking a lot lately. About the earth and life and all that goes with it. It's quite magnificent if you really pay attention to all that makes this world around us; from the sky to the countless uniform blades of grass pushing up through the land. Just think of the journey your coffee beans take to make it to your delicious smelling cup every morning. Hand picked coffee cherries, plucked from trees by the hands of a local on the other side of the world, dried in the sun and packed into burlap bags before they're shipped to a roaster. And in the summer a tiny little tomato seed will split open, releasing a tentative, thin thread of green that eventually becomes many leaves and stems heavy with full, ripe tomatoes. It's amazing. The entire world is amazing.
So I've been thinking about that but mainly I've been thinking about whether I'd rather go out in public with hideous hair and a nice outfit or a hideous outfit and nice hair.
It's not that I have to make the choice, I just wonder if I was forced to do one or the other which would it be?
Like, if I absolutely had to pick, would I rather go on a date wearing a beautifully cut Ralph Lauren silk dress and Chanel shoes with a head of hair that looks like it's housing an extended family of beavers? Or would I rather wear an outfit, that looks very much like a clown suit, but not enough like a clown suit to mistake me for an actual clown - with perfect, Vidal Sassoon hair?
I've been thinking about this for 48 solid hours and the closest I've come to a decision is Googling what a beaver dam looks like.
There's an argument to be made for the fact that if your hair looks good, you can wear any old thing and you'll still look fabulous but just how good does one's hair have to look to cancel out a massive polka dotted onesie with a ruffled collar?
In real life of course this wouldn't be an issue. A single beaver can weigh up to 70 lbs. My head could never support more than 2 or 3 of them. Plus I don't really own a clown suit but I do have a few things in my closet that look kind of funny on me. Every year or so I forget about how awful they are, try them on and then rip them off again. Yet for some reason instead of doing the logical thing - throwing them out or donating them - I carefully slip them back on the hanger and shove them into the closet where in one year's time I'll delight at finding something that I probably only imagined looked like it was sewn by a sloth wearing mittens.
It's very much like when I need something in the fridge and instead of throwing out the container of liquified cucumber slices I just shove it to the side to get to what I want. For weeks. Who hasn't let something get so bad in their refrigerator that they had to throw out the entire container because opening it to dump out the contents would be considered biological warfare? No one.
I say all of this because we're coming into the season where there will indeed be garden cucumbers in my refrigerator, my hair will almost certainly look like it's home to any number of animals, and the clothing I wear will look like I just escaped from prison by crawling through a airplane toilet.
It's gardening season.
All winter I go along looking half decent with my hair done, clean clothing, polished shoes or boots. I'd go so far as to say I look respectable. During gardening season? I look like something you'd wear a hazardous waste suit around. But I don't care.
I'm willing to walk around with nest head and dirt coloured clothing for months on end. It's a small price to pay for being able to sit outside for hours on end under the blue sky with a coffee in my hand - tending to those tomatoes.
Have a good weekend. Get dirty.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Jenny W
LoL! The sidebar on my Mac listed products I might be interested in, and there were 6 photos of clown suits :D
My fridge has the super power to liquify anything.
Good hair over an outfit every time - dark sunglasses glasses and lipstick put it up a notch
Snows finally gone here on the east coast, though most of it is underwater due to flooding, so I have an entire back yard of melted dog poo to clean up this weekend.
Karen
Yuck. :/ Glad you made it through the flooding though! ~ karen
Marilyn
Starting this weekend I will have dirty nails for weeks. I hate gloves and I scrub and scrub but sometimes it’s just impossible..
Karen
I wear latex surgical gloves for most gardening. I hate hate HATE the feel of dirty hands. Creeps me out. ~ karen!
Jane C.
I can't garden wearing gloves either. I've tried. I just have dirty fingers from spring until fall. I have been known, in moments of desperation, to soak my hands in warm water and bleach.
Marion Gibson
Lee Valley sells scrub brushes that will get your hands and nails clean yet won‘t destroy your skin. Very soft plastic non bristly bristles! They come in a package of 12 which have lasted me many years even though I have given some away to friends in need. I even use one to scrub vegetables. I think they‘re like the ones used in hospitals. And the best part - they‘re
Inexpensive!
Marilyn
Yes I have seen those. I’m going to try those ! Thank you
Sabina
Yesssss! And I wear a bathing suit under mine so I can just walk right down to the beach when I’m done 😎
Miriam
Never mind the hair or outfit, you have a shovel that is as tall as you!
Get dirty indeed!!!
Sia
And here I thought you had discovered the great mystery of upcycling liquified cucumbers. Happens too often.
Melissa
Sia, part of me almost gagged at the thought, but then another part of me wondered if Karen had some kind of fermented-cuke-health-water idea brewing- no pun intended.
I do like Kombucha : ]
Brin
P.S. I threw out my liquified cucumber in the baggy last week and replaced it with a new one. It's in a baggy in the door where I can keep my eye on it. lol
Brin
You look great wish I could say the same in my bee keeping suit. I don't have bees though. I'm getting ready to annihilate a squadron of black wasps and yellow jackets so I can grow a tomato plant. I know, clothes can be an issue. Btw, what brand of clothes washer do you have? Mine went out (I don't know where) a month and a half a go. I am tired of beating my clothes on the rock down by the creek. It's the weekend, have a great one! :)
Karen
Rock washing is the worst. ;) I have a Bosch set but they're both on their last legs at 17 years old. ~ karen!
Brin
Seriously! 17 yrs. is awesome. I am impressed. I do think appliances were made better back then.
Karen
Don't be too impressed. I've fixed it myself countless times from replacing the motor brushes to fuses to belts. ~ karen!
K
Well, I would think if one has a sexy outfit and nice make up - maybe aweful hair could be pulled off under the assumption of " an exciting tussle offscreen"? Hmmm... that 'just out of bed head' ... I guess I'd choose the outfit? 😏
I feel so guilty when I throw out liquified veggies and I'm so glad it's actually common enough to be a blog post title ;) Do you have suggestions for fertilizer that's safe for growing plants that kids may consume sometimes straight out of the dirt ? ( obviously I'm going to promote washing but this is our first attempt at a summer garden and I was unsure if some soils are considered more breeding ground for dangerous bacteria? Or maybe I'm just paranoid?)
Karen
Hey! I don't use fertilizers I just use compost. But even compost can be dangerous in some cases because it often contains animal manure and if it hasn't been properly composted there can be pathogens. I compost my own so I know it's all been composted at a proper temp. Really I wouldn't worry about it though personally. ~ karen!
Lois Baron
". . . get so bad in their refrigerator that they had to throw out the entire container . . ." roflmao. I literally did this *today.* It's just as well all my containers are reused deli containers or I might feel worse about it. Well, OK, I do feel a tinge that I'm not recycling the container, but that's mostly about worrying my husband will see it because he is the recycling Nazi at our house.
I'm so thankful you're alive & writing a blog.
Erin
Ah! I love it. Personally I’d wear the clown suit if I could have perfect hair (I think to myself as I shove liquefying cucumbers to the left and then behind the cilantro).... happy dirty days!!
Robert
Well that was a small part of the intention
Madeline
Hi Karen, Your hair looks nice in the photo, so I guess that day you chose hair over clothes. What are the plants in the raised bed? I'm sorry to say that I did not buy one of th clown suits on offer because non of them looked ironic enough, although they were all scary.
Karen
Oh nooo my hair is not looking good there, lol. But thanks, at least I know when I think may hair is looking it's worst it might not be as bad as I think. The plants are strawberries! :) ~ karen
Teri on the Wet Coast.
So, about the container carefully placed in the suspended animation chamber, otherwise known as the fridge. Good ol' CBC used to have a program called 'The Wanted Word' wherein people submitted words that didn’t exist, but should. That container is called 'tupperscare'. Had a few of them over the years.
Martina
Haha! I 😍
Karen
Hahaha. ~ karen!
whitequeen96
My sister reached into her basket of tomatoes and pulled out a rotting one. She screamed, "Aghhh, a Stephen King tomato!" (Anyone who read The Stand will understand this.)
Jane Walker
😆😆 that’s great
Jane S
Your hair still looks fabulous!
Amy
You can plan your life around this: You need a good haircut, good shoes, and good teeth. Everything else can come from Wal-Mart if you go classic. Write it down 😗
Teri on the Wet Coast.
Amen. I would add a good bed.
Cath
Right on!
Cath
What the????
Karen
LOL. Were you trying to add that picture to your profile? Here's how to do that ... https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/photo-in-blog-comments/ ~ karen!
Robert
You could have honestly walked out of a Demna Gvasalia show in that last photo and none would be the wiser.
Or wear that almost clown outfit and you'll be straight out of a Gucci ad.
I wonder how many containers with living food still inside get thrown out every year?
Karen
Well now you're just overtly flattering me. I'm O.K. with that. ~ karen!
Amy
Karen,
This brought huge tears to my eyes. Living in dirty garden clothes and messy, sweaty hair is my dream. I admire your hard work!
Karen
Thanks Amy! It's all well and good until you have to go anywhere public, lol. ~ karen!
TucsonPatty
I don't care if I have horrible clothing, but I'm a hairdresser, so I need kind of decent hair, but I have to have my eye makeup. Cuz that's how I roll.
Karen
Yes. You must have good hair. ~ karen!
susanne
you look mahvelous dahling!!! too bad i didn't take a selfie when i ran to the tile store today for 3 single tiles so we could finish the tub surround...serious competition, baby!!! :-)
Diane
You are the best. That's it, that's all. The...BEST!
Karen
I'm not sure why - but thank you! ~karen