Whither Stones?

(image from here.)

The idea for a show about stones came inadvertently from my wife.  While it's true that she's a stoner - I once mentioned that on the radio & some people were shocked I "outed" her in this way, not realizing that no one who knows her ever listens to me on the air - that's not the inspiration.  No, it's because of her garden envy.  Something I once wrote some haiku about on this very blog.

People in Portland take their gardens very seriously, & in turn my wife fumes with jealousy when someone's garden is growing things better or looks prettier than hers (so, always - a green thumb she has not).  Garden envy easily spills over into landscaping envy, & as Portlanders embrace the spring, so too they take the time to touch up their yards, gardens, their outside spaces.

This spring I have heard about nothing but stones.  Should we get paving stones for the pathway in the front yard?  We need to clean the stones in the front - can you help?  Our next door neighbor Molly is buying some stones - should I go in on it?  Can you move the car - we're having stones delivered!

It seems pretty obvious why I would have stones on my mind.

Sometimes people buy more stones than they need.  & they have a pile of stones in front of their house with a sign on it that says "free."  Sometimes we pass those on dogwalks.  The conversation after that is generally, should I go get some of those free stones?  Why it may seem there was a debate involved, especially given the amount of time deliberations happen, the answer is always, yes.  As I write this, there are buckets of stones in our car.

This is perhaps too much information but if you wanted to know why tonight, from midnight to 3am, on 90.7fm KBOO & online at kboo.fm, Self Help Radio is about stones, well, now you know.