Running Commentary

I've not been doing much (any) cultivating, but the theme gives me an excuse to post a photo I actually took myself. (My friend Sunshine inspires me to expose some of my own pictures to the light of cyberspace--more to come, I hope.) Cultivating one's own garden, that is, tending to one's own back yard, is the final recommendation of Voltaire's Candide, a work that has long held a fascination for me because when I had to pass a French language competency test in order to get my MA, I was unbelievably lucky to be given a passage from Candide to translate. I was unclear on the precise meaning of many of the words and phrases (all those idioms!), but upon recognizing the familiar story was able to present myself as smarter than I was. What has this to do with running? Thought you'd never ask. I confess I never was quite clear on the meaning of cultivating one's own garden. Did it mean you should lock out the world and ignore all its problems in favor of getting y