Garden Archive 5/10

Vinca vine given by a friend.

New trellis for roses

Wisteria

astilbe

Solomon's Seal

Cora Bells

Rose of Sharon Seedling from a friend.

Yellow Daylily and Jacob's Ladder

Cleveland Pear Trees planted Summer '08

What it Means to Be Human

My five year wedding anniversary was celebrated attending this talk at NYU:

What it Means to Be Human

Followed by cupcakes at Magnolias Bakery on Bleaker Street!

Running

I miss running. So I am going to start running again. In the morning. Enough to make a difference for my holistic health. There is an eight week program I found. If I start tomorrow and can concentrate on each run, each moment of each run, by June 17th I feel I will have achieved something rather profound. And if I don't concentrate... well, I just have to.

Labor

Avery was born January 8, 2008. Never have I felt so connected to the present moment as I did when I was in labor.

Books

I have finished reading King Dork and Eat, Pray, Love. I am currently reading The History of Love.

Gardening 1

Yesterday night was my first gardening class at the county college. I had expected the content of the class to basically be "Ok, you plant stuff, lots of stuff" and presto, in a month I have more plants in my yard thanks to the weekly motivation. But no, the class is much more. I have to look at this much more deeply. What kind of garden do I want to express myself as a person? Do I need it to be well organized or do I thrive on chaos? I have really been thinking about this. First of all, I love English cottage gardens. I love the wild beauty of them- the depth, the color and texture so whimsical and complex... And anyone who has ever seen my workspace knows I operate in a "messy" unordered way. I find both comfort and inspiration being surrounded by lots of things at once. And may be it is that I find tremendous fulfillment imposing order on a tumultuous environment...

But my house isn't. The instructor told us we have to consider the style of architecture of our houses in our design. Our gardens should be constructed in a similar style so that they match and flow is created. The garden is an extension of the house. My house is a formal federalist style brick. A "formal garden" is definitely its style. A formal garden has more distinct planting areas, more space, more order. So, this house and the garden I will create for it will teach me to allow "space". This is where I learn more about myself (and gardening). After all, I love my house to a point of obsession. That must mean I like its style. And I have always thought of the yard as "magical", even now with hardly anything growing in it. So I'll accept trying to promote classy elegance, nothing wrong with that. If I can actually pull it off and my plants survive, I will be both surprised and delighted!

Yoga

This week's practice was centered around calm mindfulness, and contentment (santosha). My mind wanders back to this as I accept what the day brings.

Last week's practice was centered around awareness, the moment by moment process of actively and openly observing one's physical, mental and emotional experiences.