Grass and Water

Over the last couple of months I have been walking in the surrounding countryside to get some exercise.  A  back problem has prevented me from doing any proper sport for over a year now and I think my tennis life is finally over. It was possibly the cause of all the bother in the first place and I can't just play tennis for 'fun'.... what is the point?

The bi-product of these walks has been the gathering of grasses and anything else that looks workable, like docks, plantains and wild oats.  Grasses are a whole new field of botany for me. I lived in London for 30 years where the only grass I saw was mown to within an inch of its life in a public park. So, my general rule of thumb for gathering the stuff has been, if I like the look of it I cut some.  There is a purple grass that grows in a dried out reservoir by the railway line that was stunning when I cut it first. But it has dried now and although it still has a hint of purple  it is very much less attractive.  It  seems to me that in basket making with natural materials  everything always ends up, ultimately, in the brown spectrum, which is probably why, on the whole, I prefer  unnatural materials!

But, it has been  good exercise gathering the, soon to be, brown stuff  and the back is almost back to normal with the combination of a daily massage, walking and the 'water cure'.

Looking for a natural cure for the massage god's  allergic asthma I hit on the 'water cure' and as the web site suggested that it works for almost anything and it costs nothing to do, we both gave it a try. He hasn't wheezed since and my back is feeling way way better.  Is it a coincidence  that plants and humans  both function better when they are hydrated? The grass is certainly greener when it is growing.