Finding my life garden in NY.....

Thea Angella Merl.......sharing the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with me...........a place she visits frequently...................

I just had to share a wonderfully refreshing experience while visiting the Big Apple. I had a very enlightening experience and quite an awakening conversation with an artist named Genesis. A very spiritual and talented young lady who knows who she is. We spoke of her journey to where she is today - a gay woman, a daughter, a teacher of math/ art and an artist who shows her work. We spoke of many things that she endured on her journey....a journey that is not finished but a journey that continues daily. Her art has soul, her sketches have spirit and you can feel her passion for her work as she interprets what she was thinking as she developed the pieces. I asked her if she had ever done any work pertaining to nature or gardening...I planted that seed in her mind and she promised to give that some thought. I strongly feel, particularly for those on their journey to completion, that embracing the earth and all it has to offer can take one back to our/their roots. Your roots are your heritage and without embracing your heritage, you can lose yourself in what society says is who you are.

Genesis spoke strongly, openly and honestly about her life choices and her Blessings. In fact she challenged me to follow through on the things I spoke passionately about - community, sharing through media thoughts on African American gardening and gardening in general, via the media and in print.

Now I am not really one of these folks who need to be competitive to survive. In fact, I would rather just do me and be happy. It is simply put.......easy. However, I was inspired by this young woman who was open, honest and dared me to make my words come to life. She is a friend of my youngest daughter, Thea - who reminds me of myself in many ways before marriage, divorce and the life that has followed. The ME with a beautiful life garden at my fingertips, the ME that allowed the weeds to blow in and found life too complicated to cultivate true joy.

Why and how do we let our life gardens get so overgrown that we cannot see the beauty and truth that lies before us? Did you ever think that if we cultivate joy and maintain peace and embrace spirituality as we continue on our journey through life, how much happier we would be?

I will be the first to admit that somewhere along my journey as wife, mother and finding the now ME, I allowed the weeds to grow and overwhelm my paths, so that I could no longer get through.

As I have matured, I am NOW making time to cut back the overgrown weeds, cultivate ongoing joy and lay a positive path for anything that should come my way. I am also going to embrace the new twist that sharing thoughts on gardening just might take me.

Thea, my youngest daughter and recent transplant to New York seems to be pointing for me to go forward......
How is your life garden growing?

Low Country Groove

Well the South Carolina adventure has begun.  Started out in my typical manner of making the wrong turn or today it was getting on the wrong bus.  Well fortunately it was the Million Dollar Tour bus and I had a blast.  I met a man whose sister was the first Black Cashier in the State of South Carolina.  You could feel his pride and even though he was aged and a tad hunched over from years of hard work, he was more than happy to share that he was on his way over to his sister's house to help her with some work.  Family, always a sure thing!!!

FREE THE AZALEAS!!!  WASHINGTONIANS - stop pruning your azaleas into obscene shapes!!!  I witnessed some of the most beautiful azaleas, allowed to grow naturally, un-pruned and planted in part shade like they are supposed to be!!! It was amazing and simply a beautiful sight to see!!!  What is strange is to see Palm trees, Iron plant, fully leafed out Crepe Myrtles and azaleas in the same town at this time of the year....simply amazing!!!

Back to the bus ride, it was the Rt. 31 and the Bus driver was careful to point out these white little houses along a tree lined drive dripping with moss and a very large house at the end of the lane.  They were original slave cottages with the massa's house at the end of the lane.  Kept in very good condition, she informed me that the landowners MUST keep them up and never tear them down.  What a way to show what WAS the South.

Well, tomorrow is the King Street Tour of historic homes and gardens.....after an early morning shopping workout in Historic Downtown Charleston of course............ I can't wait!!!!

To be continued.............