A Snow Day

Well, the weather forecast was correct. It got cold and snow came! I went outside as soon as I woke up, in my pajamas! With my camera! Kya kept looking at me wondering why we didn’t begin the day with her breakfast as we always do. I always thank her for being patient with me.

I went out, off and on, most of the morning to take photos. I had to take breaks because my fingers would freeze. We had what I call ice clouds, and it’s really this sort of weather that makes you the coldest here. You can see what looks like wisps of clouds billowing by, no higher than you are. They are freezing, as clouds are. And you can see the crystals of frozen water in these clouds, melting only when they hit your skin. It is so very cold! It is not rain, and it’s colder than snow, because that evaporates and leaves you pretty dry. This would soak you to the bone, if you could stay out long enough. Very, very cold.

I love it.

So of course I stayed out as long as I could, and I got many pictures. I’m going to put a bunch here for you. The flowers, even though they were not their happiest, were still mesmerizing and beautiful in their frozen little world.

The birds sang nonstop.

A happy snow day.

The Flowers' Gift

Tomorrow at night we are supposed to have a cold front come through. It will only last about 24 hours, but in that time most of the flowers that are so beautiful right now will die. It will get below freezing, and we might even get some snow! I have been taken aback at how much I will miss these flowers. There is a sadness, where I know there should not be, because things change, and grow again. I thought we would have until October. I try to change my perspective, to feel grateful for the beautiful gifts they have given me this summer.

I cannot help but think they know tomorrow’s sunrise will be their last. Isn’t this the way of nature? It is always prepared. What do these flowers do in their last bits of time? They are waning with the moon, who was full in the sign of Pisces just days ago, the enlightened culmination of the zodiac wheel before it turns anew.

I was overcome today with inspiration for the different arts I love to work within. So many ideas that I didn’t know what to do. A frantic attempt to remember it all, to make the time to create it, and forge the dedication to not stop. Each idea, a petal drifting to the dirt for a flower to live after its bloom.

There was a bird who sang above the garden that moved me to tears. It sounded like an ode to all the things that have ever ended. It was one of the most beautiful things my ears have ever heard. And then his last few notes before silence were the most sublime uplifting gold, a prelude to what is next. Such is the way.

There are endless feathers all around the garden, from a lot of doves that have taken roost here. In the animal messenger’s truth, they are said to symbolize divine love.

I sit with the flowers and I hear them tell me how to begin. We give the seeds for you to bring new life here again.

These are the myriad gifts of flowers.

The Gardener

If you love the natural world, a peer into an artistic mind, and spirits that move us, then you must watch the 2016 documentary The Gardener. I had not ever heard of the man who created Les Quatres Vents, The Four Winds, gardens in Canada—it is amazing to me the wonders awaiting us to find them in this world. And this is certainly one. The creation of the immense gardens themselves, and also how well the people being interviewed articulated their experience of it all was completely moving.

I did not, for one moment, feel like the tiny garden I have been loving this summer was inferior. In fact, I loved it more. A garden does not need to be huge to engage the senses and feelings in the ways talked about in this film. All we need to put together is a bit of dirt, some seeds, and water. That in itself is a wonder.

I was unexpectedly moved by a certain tower in his garden. They showed the exterior many times before taking the viewer inside. For that time, I wanted to know so badly what was inside. When they finally took us into it, I became haunted. It was made to be a couple of rooms that one would find in a Swedish castle. Sometimes, things I see from Sweden move me to inexplicable tears, and I go to a place I cannot quite touch with words. This can be embarrassing at times, standing in Ikea looking at the flower print on a duvet for example, ha. I don’t know what that is, but I hope one day it makes sense to me. Every tiny detail they unveiled—teacups, vines painted on the walls, framed drawings of flowers, the fireplace, the bedroom—pulled me further into that place.

Photo from Toronto Gardens blog

I cannot find words to describe how these rooms make me feel. Like I have been reacquainted with someone or something I have missed for a very long time. That stove, of all things, really gets to me.

Photo from Toronto Gardens blog

Photo from Toronto Gardens blog

I really could go on a long time about it but I will stop there.

Watch this film and see what moves you, too. A little 90 minute travel in watching The Gardener has given me inspiration for my own gardens, and for life.

A New Shirt

Today I took one of my thrift store finds and altered it into something I will actually wear. When I got it, I loved the lace, but there was too much of it, and when I put it on I felt like a tiered tray of puffy cupcakes! Not exactly how I want to feel, although I do love cupcakes. It actually made me want to eat some. So I took my scissors to the excessive layers and got rid of them. Now I have several feet of lace I can use in something else, and a piece of clothing I love very much.

I get great joy from finding an inexpensive used garment (this one was $3) that is something I will like to wear. Sometimes it seems like the thrifting elves help me find things I thought I only imagined in my head!

All of that fabric was sewn in pleats around the waist, right where most any woman does not want lots of fabric!

For this top, what I did was relatively simple. If you can confidently wield a pair of scissors, then you can do this to a piece of clothing you want to alter. If the issue is I want to get rid of a layer of fabric, then most often all you have to do is trim the unwanted layer, next to the seam, where it attaches to the fabric you want to keep. Beware of cutting the fabric you like, and cutting the seam itself. Try it!

From frumpy to free! I love it layered.

Lately, I’ve also been cutting polyester layers out of cotton tops and dresses I have collected over the years. I love cotton but I’m not a fan of polyester—it is plastic spun into fibers then woven into a fabric, and our skin is smothered by it. With only cotton, or other natural materials next to our skin, it’s liberated. The difference in how that makes us feel is remarkable!!!

I’ve taken to cutting that layer out of soft, embroidered, natural, otherwise lovely things. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this years ago, but it’s something else you can try too!

I will take pictures of the next item I free from polyester’s grip, to show you!

Morning Flowers

There are still so many flowers blooming in The Fairy Garden. I have always loved to take pictures of flowers. It feels like they are filled with glee, to have someone noticing their brief life and deciding to preserve them in portrait.

I realized today that I haven’t ever sat amongst a little plot of wildflowers and studied them so intently with my camera. There is something intensely fascinating about composing photos of all the wonder. It is a world that I become completely lost in and notice nothing around me outside of the flowers. And I realized, this is a way to spend time that I love the most. My dream is to sit in a giant field of countless flowers, in a rainbow of colors like those that I have here, and take so many pictures that I feel crazy. Whatever shall I do with so many flower photos? Well, I do not know yet. Maybe one day I will.

This winter, I know I will dream of them when the garden is empty. And next year I will plant so many more! What glorious beings.