Instead of Studying Markets, What About Taking Some Time to Learn About Real Stuff Like This?
Some professionals I know stick to their knitting and constantly read about the economy, markets and the like. I'm guessing they really enjoy this, or at least I hope they do. On the other hand, some of us direct our attention to what you might call "real" stuff.
Frances Mayes wrote Under the Tuscan Sun, which promptly became a best-seller and spawned a whole industry of things Tuscan. For some of us, just the name "Tuscany" triggers magical sights, sounds and smells, especially if you've spent even one blessed day in that blessed region of the blessed country of Italy. So now I'm reading Ms. Mayes's most recently published Every Day in Tuscany. And, despite the knowledge that her writing has certainly contributed to the bidding up of every square inch of Tuscan land so that any thought of buying one of those modernized ancient farm houses (that you can still rent for something just north of a reasonable price) has become futile although somewhat pleasant daydreaiming, the combination of the author's writing talent and the richness and wonder of the suject make reading this book a real treat.
Here's a little snippet from the book. Thinking about what I've learned from all my studies of markets, finance, the economy, etc., and the sort of knowledge Ms. Mayes acquired during her years living part of the year in Tuscay helps me temper the time and effort expended on gaining yet one more snippet of knowledge of money and markets, vs. the knowledge that comes from spending one's time actually "doing" something. Here we are told what she learned from Albano about how to plant and maintain her extensive garden:
Frances Mayes wrote Under the Tuscan Sun, which promptly became a best-seller and spawned a whole industry of things Tuscan. For some of us, just the name "Tuscany" triggers magical sights, sounds and smells, especially if you've spent even one blessed day in that blessed region of the blessed country of Italy. So now I'm reading Ms. Mayes's most recently published Every Day in Tuscany. And, despite the knowledge that her writing has certainly contributed to the bidding up of every square inch of Tuscan land so that any thought of buying one of those modernized ancient farm houses (that you can still rent for something just north of a reasonable price) has become futile although somewhat pleasant daydreaiming, the combination of the author's writing talent and the richness and wonder of the suject make reading this book a real treat.
Here's a little snippet from the book. Thinking about what I've learned from all my studies of markets, finance, the economy, etc., and the sort of knowledge Ms. Mayes acquired during her years living part of the year in Tuscay helps me temper the time and effort expended on gaining yet one more snippet of knowledge of money and markets, vs. the knowledge that comes from spending one's time actually "doing" something. Here we are told what she learned from Albano about how to plant and maintain her extensive garden:
From Albano, who works up at Fonte...we know that the orto fence must go underground about eight inches, otherwise little snuffling diggers root under...We learned that October strawberries are the sweetest, juiciest, that chard reboots forever, asparagus plants last twenty years, raspberry canes must be pruned hard after the fruit is finished for the season. We learned to make tall bamboo teepees for beans and short ones for peppers. We shade the lettuce with a ring of sunflowers. And we never knew before to pick only the males (no zucchini developing at the end) for fried zucchini flowers. We learned to to love the winter garden - black cabbage, cardoon, kale, rape, and the early spring fava. I save seeds from the best tomatoes...(from Every Day in Tuscany - Seasons of an Italian Life by Frances Mayes, p. 60)Well, at least the weather's finally getting warmer, and this year we plan to expand our tiny garden to a few more square feet - nothing to compare with the extensive garden the old Italian-American couple a few blocks away cultivates each year perhaps, but a maybe a start in the right direction. Of course, we have not illusions that we can ever really capture the full taste of Italy, but last year's tomatoes were certainly worth the effort.
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