Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Order Out of Chaos -- Gardens and Mysteries

I spent the morning in the garden -- hoeing weeds and suckering and tying up tomatoes.  The rest of our yard is badly overgrown with shrubs in need of pruning and rampant with wild grape vines but in the vegetable garden order reigns -- for the moment, at least.

One of the accepted conventions of mystery novels is that readers like them because  the protagonist -- whether police detective, private investigator, or amateur sleuth -- is presented with the chaos of an unsolved crime out of which -- in the course of the novel -- order is restored by nabbing the culprit.

Conventional wisdom say that the writer of mysteries must make sure that Good conquers Evil and that all loose ends are neatly tied up.  Some exception is made for ongoing series -- the main plot line may be resolved but there can be some questions left for the next installment.

Kind of like those weeds  -- hoe them down today but give it a week and there they are again. The battle to bring order out of chaos is never-ending.

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15 comments:

Ms. A said...

You may be battling the weeds, but looks like you will be enjoying some serious fruits of your labor!

Stella Jones said...

You're right, it is ongoing. I was begging for rain here - we got it, but now the weeds are getting going and I have more work to do! LOL

Brian Miller said...

yep, never ending...and in that the reader finds familiarity as well...i would read a mystery over weeding any day though...ha

Louise said...

But, what fun would it be without the struggle?

Martin said...

What a shame some bright spark couldn't cross a tomato plant with a weed. A little sun, a little rain, and bingo, a bumper crop! It doesn't quite work like that though, does it?

Deanna said...

I like that analogy. Your garden is very lush and orderly... for today at least!

Thérèse said...

It does not even work with the quote "Only keep this rule in view;Try, try again..."

But... in between you'll be rewarded by loads of tomatoes at what it looks like! Wow!

NCmountainwoman said...

We may hate this hot humid weather, but the plants surely love it. I've never seen everything so lush. Unfortunately that includes the weeds.

Friko said...

what is 'suckering'?

seeing a garden as a work in progress is nothing new to me, seeing it as creating order out of chaos ditto, but seeing it as the creation of a mystery, well, that is a thought which never ever entered my head.

How right you are!

No wonder you are good at both.

Vicki Lane said...

Friko -- I explained about suckering ( which we do to enhance the circulation of air around the plants so they don't get blighted in our rainy weather) back in June 2008 -- where I was also thinking about the order from chaos thing.

http://vickilanemysteries.blogspot.com/2008/06/suckerin-maters.html

Judith said...

In the first photo, at first glance, there appears to be a UFO beaming down a bit of light on the hill beyond the trees.

Kath said...

What a wonderful teacher you are.

Vicki Lane said...

Judy B -- So it does! It's really the hummingbird feeder which i didn't crop out because of the tiny reflection of the sun it had captured.

Tammy said...

It is a very satisfying if at times overwhelming task to 'take back some order'. I'm taking a bit of vacation this week, and have been out trying to put in new 'shade' areas. My yard has slowly went from primarily sun to shade...but I guess that is what happens when you plant bunches of trees. ;-0
Have a great wek.
Tammy

Desiree said...

I always enjoy your posts, Vicki. You always succeed in implanting a little of your magic for us to take away :)