Lucy Jordan

When I was 23, I bought a tape of Marianne Faithfull's greatest hits. I went around Central Otago doing paid research and getting to meet fascinating people and see some of the most awesome vistas I have ever seen in my life. I decided I wanted to try smoking cigarettes. So I did. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the legal kind. I never told you I was a sophisticated thrill seeker type teenager did I?

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan song has always stuck in my mind, both the snatches of lyrics which have stayed with me and the tune. A couple of months ago I looked up the full lyrics online - it is after all less than 12 months before I hit 37.

I'm not sure about the lyrics. As in I'm not sure how exactly to interpret their meaning. I'll come back to that, especially next February I expect.

But I do remember the sense of freedom as a young woman with a degree and the conviction that I could do more or less anything that my male peers did. Peeing standing up absolutely anywhere being the main exception.

I'm wearing purple as I write and I describe myself as a feminist with pride.

Wanna know what I did today? got Fionn ready for school - changed lots of nappies - washed everyone's clothes - made school lunch - made hummus - made chocolate chippie biscuits - made pizza for tomorrow's lunches - made apple crumble for today's lunches - made stirfry beef for dinner - fed chooks - collected Fionn from school - collected slugs for the chooks - fed the chooks twice - sowed borage, pumpkin, zucchini, chamomile and swiss chard seeds - tidied up part of the lawn - bathed children - knitted - listened to the National Programme - wondered when Winston Peters will ever disappear from the face of NZ politics - pondered various issues in education

I have choices regarding how I participate in this world. Choices granted partly by virtue of living in a wealthy democracy and partly due to the hard won achievements of women before me who believed that women should be able to inhabit the public space. Helen Clark is where she is as a result. I have choices too and the fact that my current choice is that my world is largely domestic and involved in looking after children makes me no less of a feminist.

So, back to the garden. Spring doesn't warm up particularly quickly here on the West Coast and although there are spring bulbs out and the air is warmer, the garden isn't exactly rushing headlong into increased productivity. The soil is very wet and lots of rain is forecast for this week. Fionn and I found a lot of slugs today and I squashed a number of slug eggs. We also found an ants' nest.

I'm not sure what kind of day today was lunarly, but there are plenty more things to plant/sow next week. Next year I think I'll get a lunar gardening calendar. I never know what the best practise recommendations are at the beginning of every second month when I'm waiting for the next issue of Organics NZ to hit the newsstand at my local health shop.