The whirl that is life

Thank goodness for gardens.

It’s another Saturday morning. This time we wake and the skies are clear, holding the promise of a sunny day. I sit eating tomatoes on toast, a rare treat in winter and the result of accidentally ordering too many with the groceries. Dogs sit either side of me, hunting for a crumb. It is dog training day and their breakfast will need to wait until after class. Their pleading eyes disagree. My mind wanders, thoughts and ideas start dancing in. I write them down and leave them because it is Saturday and I want to enjoy the day, meander through it if you will. A copy of Mary Oliver “Blue Pasture” sits on the table beside me and I want to carve out some time to carefully read her wise words. It is a second hand copy, with pen lines and highlighted passages from another reader. I try hard to ignore them but I do wonder about the person who held this book before me. What were they thinking as they highlighted a specific line?

As I finish my toast and drink my tea I think I will head out into the garden to check my seedlings I put outside yesterday and wonder how long it will take before my always over ambitious Kings Seed order will arrive. I look out the window as I put my dishes on the bench and see it. A blackbird and the accompanying flick of pea straw. A walk around the garden now involves me sweeping up pea straw that has been tossed from the beds by birds. I mutter to myself about the disarray they have created but then think there must be food for them to hunt for as they disrupt the peace of my beds. I will tolerate it, embracing the mess of having an active living garden. It is much more preferable to the perfect beds.

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Our week as a family becomes upended. A family member becomes suddenly ill and results in the arrival of another dog, Bailey, to the pack. Thankfully the three dogs get on well and we seem to negotiate the fog of uncertainty that shadows our week well. Days pass and we find our own rhythm and then slowly relax. While the weather holds we all take comfort from the garden. Me, absent mindlessly weeding, enjoying being in a green space and the delight of daffodils. The dogs, they have many corners to sniff and space to romp.

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I have a Fiona Apple song dancing in my head, the line, “..winter gives way to warm” and earlier in the week it definitely felt like that. However as the week unfolds a cold snap comes and snow appears on the hills. The chill encourages us to stay inside, the littlest dog of them all, quietly snores on the cough. Plans for flower collection are put on hold until it warms. I did notice my bumble bee friend when the days were warmer, foraging on the rosemary which is flowering before she headed off to the hellebore. I usually pick a bunch of rosemary to have in the bathroom. Rosemary as a herb has energizing qualities which is a lovely aroma to have floating around you as you take your morning shower. Like all herbs is it a great bee friendly food especially at this time of year when there is not much flowering and things are starting to kick off within the hive.

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It is not often that you take time to reflect what it is you actually do with your creative work. Julia from Home Studio invited me to talk more about my creative process and it felt good to stop and think on the purpose of my photos and words. Do pop over to Julia’s beautifully created space to read my story and more about the fabulous gardening community in New Zealand.