It has been since February that I have written and I hope to change that .
We built a new house last year and this year my youngest daughter, who lives here in town too, has lived with us with her family until their's was recently completed.
Being in a new house means I get to design the gardens again as I did our first home here in " God's Country, Idaho ".
Being an artist I see gardening like a blank canvas, except that in gardening, I am the brush. I put things in place but God is the artist that brings flowers out of seeds, trees from seedlings, etc, etc. Seeing my work turn into beauty is so exciting as well as extremely satisfying. The anticipation of new plantings growing into beautiful landscape features is something that keeps me looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe a new shoot will show itself above the earth, peeking out for a ray of sun. Or a new leaf, a new bud. What color is it ? Will it be like the photo in the catalog or on the label ?
I have long ago learned that a garden is never completed, only a work in progress. If it has been completed then one is not a gardener. God did not create man in the universe, give him the keys and tell him to lock up when he is done and then walk away expecting man to take care of himself or herself. And so it is with gardening. When the garden landscape is planted, the work has only begun and will continue until the gardener is no longer. Plants die, they are are born, need to be pruned to show them how to grow, sometimes seeming very cruel to do .They need constant care, nurturing and love. Sometimes they need to be moved because they are in the wrong place. The gardener knows, he or she can see it is not thriving the way that he feels it should. It may mean the plant needs to be humbled, made smaller, uprooted, but the gardener knows that as the plant realizes it is now in it's rightful place it can thrive and send out all kinds of new growth. The photo at the beginning is a look at a part of my new garden by the back patio. OK, so much for metaphors, which I could go on and on about. But bringing it back to what I get out of it, when I see what beauty there is in nature in just my little part of the world, it's hard not to be awed. All I did was manual labor. I did not cause the seed or sapling to grow but I am blessed for my small part in the process. Walking among the brick, flagstone and gravel pathways I get the sights and smells that make me pause, slow down and have that moment of awe. I have had many years of fast paced jobs that allowed too little time to eat a meal . Too little time to really see the roadside or watch the continuous parade of faces and shapes in the clouds. It was easy to do when I was very young and I did it a lot, maybe too much to suit my parents. But life has a way of filling up ones minutes. Now the kids have lives of their own and although there have been challenges I do try to set priorities for myself that include concern for others in my daily quiet time with my Maker,taking care of myself and soaking in as much as I can of my surroundings. One of the many things I learned on some of my foreign travels is that in many other countries, mealtimes are not primarily to fill one's hunger, they are times to celebrate life, share thoughts, appreciate the food we have been blessed to have. Slow Food it is called occasionally on TV because of the way of preparing and eating. As an example I recently experienced one of the wonderful peaches we can get here in the grocery. It was my devotional time first thing in the morning. I grabbed a fresh peach to eat while I got my books together and sat down. This is my quiet time I give to myself each day when I am the only one up yet. Since it was very early and still, the thought occurred to me that instead of wolfing it down so I could get to my reading, and fresh peaches of this quality would soon be unavailable, maybe I should try to get everything out of the experience I could. So I shut my eyes and decided to try to notice everything there was to this peach. Taking a bite I felt the texture of the skin and immediately the flush of flavor and juice in my mouth. I chewed slowly, trying to distinguish as many elements of the taste that I could. Also, I had never before noticed that the skin of the peach, when fully ripe and carefully chewed, was almost sweeter than the flesh was. I hope I can encourage others to sometimes take as much time as they can possibly get to see how much they can experience when taking a bite of a peach, creme brulee, sea scallop or take a sip of German Riesling wine. There is so much to say " wow " about ! I hope that others take care to have their moments of " wow " too. Don't do it for me, do it for you. I think " WOW '' is my favorite word. Until next time, Ralph.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Eye of the beholder
It has been since February that I have written and I hope to change that .
We built a new house last year and this year my youngest daughter, who lives here in town too, has lived with us with her family until their's was recently completed.
Being in a new house means I get to design the gardens again as I did our first home here in " God's Country, Idaho ".
Being an artist I see gardening like a blank canvas, except that in gardening, I am the brush. I put things in place but God is the artist that brings flowers out of seeds, trees from seedlings, etc, etc. Seeing my work turn into beauty is so exciting as well as extremely satisfying. The anticipation of new plantings growing into beautiful landscape features is something that keeps me looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe a new shoot will show itself above the earth, peeking out for a ray of sun. Or a new leaf, a new bud. What color is it ? Will it be like the photo in the catalog or on the label ?
I have long ago learned that a garden is never completed, only a work in progress. If it has been completed then one is not a gardener. God did not create man in the universe, give him the keys and tell him to lock up when he is done and then walk away expecting man to take care of himself or herself. And so it is with gardening. When the garden landscape is planted, the work has only begun and will continue until the gardener is no longer. Plants die, they are are born, need to be pruned to show them how to grow, sometimes seeming very cruel to do .They need constant care, nurturing and love. Sometimes they need to be moved because they are in the wrong place. The gardener knows, he or she can see it is not thriving the way that he feels it should. It may mean the plant needs to be humbled, made smaller, uprooted, but the gardener knows that as the plant realizes it is now in it's rightful place it can thrive and send out all kinds of new growth. The photo at the beginning is a look at a part of my new garden by the back patio. OK, so much for metaphors, which I could go on and on about. But bringing it back to what I get out of it, when I see what beauty there is in nature in just my little part of the world, it's hard not to be awed. All I did was manual labor. I did not cause the seed or sapling to grow but I am blessed for my small part in the process. Walking among the brick, flagstone and gravel pathways I get the sights and smells that make me pause, slow down and have that moment of awe. I have had many years of fast paced jobs that allowed too little time to eat a meal . Too little time to really see the roadside or watch the continuous parade of faces and shapes in the clouds. It was easy to do when I was very young and I did it a lot, maybe too much to suit my parents. But life has a way of filling up ones minutes. Now the kids have lives of their own and although there have been challenges I do try to set priorities for myself that include concern for others in my daily quiet time with my Maker,taking care of myself and soaking in as much as I can of my surroundings. One of the many things I learned on some of my foreign travels is that in many other countries, mealtimes are not primarily to fill one's hunger, they are times to celebrate life, share thoughts, appreciate the food we have been blessed to have. Slow Food it is called occasionally on TV because of the way of preparing and eating. As an example I recently experienced one of the wonderful peaches we can get here in the grocery. It was my devotional time first thing in the morning. I grabbed a fresh peach to eat while I got my books together and sat down. This is my quiet time I give to myself each day when I am the only one up yet. Since it was very early and still, the thought occurred to me that instead of wolfing it down so I could get to my reading, and fresh peaches of this quality would soon be unavailable, maybe I should try to get everything out of the experience I could. So I shut my eyes and decided to try to notice everything there was to this peach. Taking a bite I felt the texture of the skin and immediately the flush of flavor and juice in my mouth. I chewed slowly, trying to distinguish as many elements of the taste that I could. Also, I had never before noticed that the skin of the peach, when fully ripe and carefully chewed, was almost sweeter than the flesh was. I hope I can encourage others to sometimes take as much time as they can possibly get to see how much they can experience when taking a bite of a peach, creme brulee, sea scallop or take a sip of German Riesling wine. There is so much to say " wow " about ! I hope that others take care to have their moments of " wow " too. Don't do it for me, do it for you. I think " WOW '' is my favorite word. Until next time, Ralph.
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