No post yesterday and a short one today. I can barely walk. Picking grapes for two days and several days more ahead of me ...if I can stand it. Well, you know. They need help. Most people don't want to work that hard anymore so farm workers are very hard to find. Anyway, I hurt everywhere. Maybe I really am getting old.

But working in the vineyards and orchards around my hometown is good for driving home in my own mind one of my main theses. We humans are all family deep inside.

I have heard several languages and met up with even more cultures working in the orchard. Sikhs, Mexicans, Pakistanis, Australians, all sorts of Canadians, English-speaking and French-speaking, and some others. They all value hard work and courtesy and humor. It's as simple as that. And you praise the really good workers and thank the people who share a bit of their lunch or a cup of coffee and you know when a man is standing with his back to you and both hands in front of him why he has stepped over into the bush. And you rush to help if someone gets hurt. And you can tell when a husband and wife are mad at each other and you don't interfere.

We are all so much alike just below the surface that it is depressing for some people. Boring.

But not for me.

I see so much reason to hope when I work in the circle of love in the common people. Elitists can sneer at my sentimentality till they crack their faces for all I care.

I see humanity, human nature, the simple story of every life. And but for a few sociopaths, who are so easy to spot when you're working in the orchard, these people - all of them - are beautiful.

Enjoy your evening, folks.