>I’ve just tidied away the last gardening tools and sat down with a cup of coffee, and now I can hear the rain begin to fall on the roof over the terrace. If that’s not timing, what is?
This weekend my parents came bearing gifts of kolkwitzia amabilis, cottoneaster, agapanthus, globe thistles, (more) goldenrods and an unidentified evergreen shrub with variegated foliage, and then my grandmother – who is 88 and can’t travel with vast numbers of plants came with a small pot of pennywort (Anemone hepatica or Hepatica nobilis, depending on which taxonomists you listen to) from her garden.
However… My parents also brought something that was not a present from them: My wedding present from my husband! Our garden is now equipped with a 5.5 meter sailing vessel:
All right, I know it’s upside-down in the picture, but it’s a kayak. A real, honest-to-God kayak! I’ve known about it since the wedding, but because the kayak used to belong to my older brother it had to be transported over here and that didn’t happen ’till my parents brought it on the roof of their car.
It’s beautiful! Sleek, slender, gracious and absolutely marvelous. And right now the only water it will see for a while is rain, sadly. I still have to buy a pagaj, which is the real term for the double-sided paddle used in a kayak.
I know this is VERY tangential on a gardening blog, but never mind…
I’ve been rowing kayaks since I was 11, but it’s been at least 4 years since I was last in a kayak comparable to this; it’s a proper racing kayak, so balance is gained mainly through speed just like on a bicycle. Most people will be able to go less than 2ft in it before falling over and landing in the water; I’ve tested it with a bunch of rowers who were used to rowing single scullers, and none of them even made it a foot after I let go of the kayak…
What has this, then, to do with the garden? A lot, of course, since location is key to a garden, and given that we’re so close to the fjord that I can pick up the kayak in one hand, the pagaj (once bought) in the other and walk down for a morning outing on the water. Roskilde Fjord is quite narrow, so the water tends to be calm and perfect for this type of kayak. (Were I to take this to Greenland, home of the kayak, I’d be a fool to even go near the sea with it, since it’s only suited for calm waters and only for rowing close to the shore.
Anyway, this is the most beautiful, romantic present anybody has ever given me. He’s given me the calm and quiet of being all by myself out on the fjord, and that really is something. I’ve married well! For more reasons than one.
>A Kayak romantic? Well whatever floats your boat…
>Clearly every coastal garden needs a kayak
. I got distracted by the main plot line of your post, though, by that list of plants at the beginning. Can you really grow agapanthus where you are? -Jean
>Well I think it is romantic and you did marry well. Someone that knows you well enough to please you this much. I think too it is what your kayak represents…the peace, quiet and closeness to nature.
>Janet, of course it's romantic… And it's a thing of great beauty, too, to slice through the placid early-morning waters with no sound except the quiet splashing of the pagaj…Jean: The agapanthus originally comes from my grandmother's garden but via my mother's garden, so it's been around for quite a few years – or at least it's ancestors have. This, surely, indicates that it can take whatever the Danish weather can throw at it. Donna: And he thought of it all by himself! (Though when he then mentioned it to me I gently nudged him towards a racing kayak rather than a sturdy and stable (and boring) sea kayak…
>What a lovely romantic present Soren! What it means to you is the best bit
>What an enjoyable post! I don't know anything about kayaks, but I loved learning about this one through your descriptions. I think it would be very peaceful and lovely to be out on water early in the morning. Glad you finally have it to enjoy. Now, will the garden be neglected?
Also liked hearing about all the plants you received!
>Mark and Gaz: Any present from one's husband is – surely – lovely. But he got this one just right1Holley: There's nothing quite like being out on the waters alone on an early morning. It's so peaceful and beautiful. As for the plants, well… they will get their own entry eventually!
>The thought of slipping off early in the morning onto a fjord, and just hearing the gentle splash of the paddle in the water as you glide along, sounds like heaven to me – even though sadly I would be one of those who'd fall in the water within seconds… By the way, can you still be a flâneur on water?
>Jill, it's definitely possible to be a flâneur on the water. Slowly gliding along, enjoying a view here, stopping for a packed lunch there, sometimes just stopping completely and bask in the sunshine…
>I look at your kayak, and I don't see – romance. I read your post, then I see, the romance. We needed your rose-tinted glasses ;~)
>Diana, does it help if I mention that tomorrow morning I'll be meeting up with my husband in Paris… 4 days with no plans, no itinerary, no pressure; just togetherness and The Good Life.