Some Pretty Fertile Territory

My parents were born on farms, and had that mindset throughout their lives. They both spoke German as their first language; Mom mastered English while Dad didn't bother...his most fluent thoughts were in German, and certainly ALL his jokes were.

As a kid, the term 'fertile territory' came up over and over.
It was admiring ("Uncle Leo has some pretty fertile territory there by the river!"), or cautionary ("That book landed on some pretty fertile territory"), or overwhelmed
("All that Milorganite * made the flowerbed into some pretty fertile territory! You're NOT using it on the vegetable garden!!").
Scary fairy tales about the Grosser Schwarzer Bär (or inadvertant talk about sex in front of us) got Dad 'the look' and a mumbled admonition about 'fertile territory', too.

Funny....I don't think they intended to teach us about imagination with that phrase, but that's how it worked for me. I knew it meant suggestibility, that there was more there than what was actually said.

When I heard that Mrs. Harold was some pretty fertile territory, I had to figure out what that could mean. 'Fertile territory means a field that produces lots of corn...hmmm...but Daddy said it funny, so I know it means something naughty...'
No wonder I think EVERYTHING has a deeper meaning or a hidden agenda, huh?

I've been thinking about this week's events in my life, and how they fall on some pretty fertile territory in my head. Stuff said at work, relationships here on line, a package I received in the mail, the joy and discovery of spring, the chapter of a book I read last night.....and how they all might fit together to teach me something.

And no, I don't think too much!

* I've tried three times to get that link to work...lol....but it doesn't. Here it is, the old-fashioned way http://www.retrocom.com/retromilw/milorg.htm