>These are stressful days. Work is all over the place (which I kind of like when I’m at the top of my game but not so much when I spend most of my energy on my private life), my granny has fallen and broken a wrist and of course my father is currently in hospital, being examined to determine the extent of the cancer he was diagnosed with last week. And there’s more, but these are the most important things and should indicate that I have enough on my plate these days.
My head’s exploding with thoughts and emotions, and I have a really hard time relaxing. It helps when I think of my husband, though he’s all the way across the North Sea in Scotland, but it actually helps even more when I think about the summer house and the garden. Being with my husband is wonderful, but somehow demands that I put in something to get out something (as relationships work). I might be allowed a down-time, especially these days, but on the other hand I know he has a need of me and my attention as well.
The garden, though, doesn’t ask for anything. Doesn’t need anything. If the lawn isn’t mowed, the shrubs not pruned or the what-ever not what-evered, there’s no harm done. I can invest energy in it if I want, but I can also just sit back and relax. It is, as a Danish poem says about a loyal friend, “Nought but a tree with green grass at its foot / to learn my burning forehead against”.
And just thinking about it, just knowing that it is there, can take me mentally to a calm and quiet space where I am myself and can recover from whatever the world throws at me. Like tonight when I need to call my mother to hear if there is any news from the hospital and if she’s okay. She needs me to have energy, and I get that from going – mentally and virtually – into the garden.
I want iris in my garden. I want Hemerocallis in my garden. I want roses and lavender and sweet-peas and dahlias. I want G&Ts in the sunshine and a fire inside when it rains. I want love and life and abundance. Wanting all this makes me happy. No matter what else is going on.
>Soren, I just recently discovered your blog and have quickly become a fan. Like you, I began blogging as a way to escape from some of life's stresses. And like you, I have a second home where I do most of my gardening, and I find both gardening and writing about the garden restorative.I have a "Garden Blog of the Month" feature on my blog where I review a few blogs each month and feature them on my sidebar. I just wanted to let you know that Flaneur Gardening is one of my featured blogs for October.
>I'm sorry that you're going through such a rough time. Cancer is horrible. I went through it with my husband, and it is very emotionally draining. And your poor granny! 😦
>Kyna, it seems that far too many people I know have had a close personal experience with cancer. Time will tell if my family comes out with a happy ending or – which seems more likely at present – a sad and cautionary tale.