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May 13, 2006

Plopped in the Middle of The Showplace

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How's this for a manifestation? Even though I try to restrain myself from publishing all of the flower pictures I take, especially in the spring, I adore flowers.

I don't suppose I'm a bad gardener, but I don't do it because I have no garden imagination. I cannot make color and height decisions from all those little brown potatoes and I cannot wait that long for feedback. I never liked anything I made in ceramics for the same reason -- working with glazes that all seemed alike when raw. I was never able to create what I had in mind. So at my house, I do shrubs instead of flowers. Most of the shrubs were planted before 1900. Draw your own conclusions.

Then, what ho. My dear landlady, who has always had a lovely garden, decided this year to make her property "a showplace" It's simply spectacular, and I have reason to believe that the display is just beginning.

A landscape architect, on viewing the new garden, remarked on its beauty. She said that planting flowers is the tweeking of much larger canvas. The final touch. I have been operating on the mistaken assumption that "gardening", as ladies of a certain age define it, means primarily flowers and too many tomatoes. Guess that's the difference between a landscape architect and a gardener. Now ask me where I have spent many a photo hour this spring -- Mt. Auburn Cemetery, where flowers abound, but are the least of it. No Awareness Awards here.


The lesson here is something about looking at the big picture. Zoom out, as we say in amateur digital photograpy.

In that vein, someone in my sphere last week brought up intergalatic astrology. The notion that it ain't just the planets under which you were born that influence your astrological chart -- there's alot more out there. Enough to boggle the mind of a person who needs instant gratification and has a short attention span.


But I digress. Each day I have the great priviledge of seeing and photographing a real showplace, with no expenditure of time, effort or money on my part. A lucky ducky of whom Esther Hicks would be proud.

Photo note: The plot outside my window. Since the sun hasn't shown in many days the photos are a bit dark. I can tilt my laptop screen to make them perfect. Maybe I'll photoshop them again, but then again, maybe I won't.

Addendum: Happy Mother's Day to all of you who celebrate this trumped up Hallmark Holiday. There's nothing like having sons to get you over the disproportionate sentimentality of the occasion. I'll send them out in the yard to pick the lilacs, if they make their presence known.

Posted by Dakota at May 13, 2006 05:02 PM