Lunapads

Posted by Marie-Geneviève

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this little Lunablog about myself, updating instead with other ladies’ guest entries (stay tuned for more by the way!!). I guess part of it is that I’ve been a bit timid and part of it is I’ve been at a loss for what to write about. But I’ve decided to forgo my apprehension and post about the same kind of stuff that I write about in my other personal blog - what is going on with me and what I’m thinking about.

These days, I’m thinking a lot about nature and growth, plants and gardens to be more precise.

One main reason for this is that I’ve been reading this really incredible book written by Patrick Lane called There is a Season: A Memoir in a Garden (though I believe the American title is What the Stones Remember: A Life Rediscovered, don’t ask me why it had to change). It’s a wonderful memoir weaving together gardening, recovery and rememberance. A well-known Canadian poet who is almost as well-known for his Vancouver Island garden, Lane is also recently sober after 40+ years of serious addiction and alcoholism. The book chronicles his first year sober, much of it spent getting back to his garden while also reflecting back on his early life and his family. Oh, and did I mention he’s also my uncle?

The act of reading parts of my own family history in a best-selling book is strange indeed, but it’s also really inspiring. For all the darkness and sorrow and violence that fills my uncle’s past, there is as much hope and inspiration and serenity that fills his present. And that is something I am grateful to have in my blood. He works through his own demons through his garden, and the long passages in the book that describe particular flowers and ferns and trees are not only interesting and beautiful, but delightful to read. In addition, his observations of the critters that inhabit the garden — whether it’s the squirrel he fights with over birdseed or the shy little juncos or the delicate mating rituals of the orb-weaving spider — read like rich characters in a novel.

I’m not only learning a lot about plants and animals and insects, I’m learning to pay attention to the nuances of nature in a way I never have before. And this leads me to another recent discovery: my own newly developed ability to nurture house plants!

In the past, I’ve always had more of a black thumb than a green one; though to be fair, I don’t know many people in their late teens and early twenties who have much patience or skill with plants. But through a combination of seeing the extraordinary houseplants of some of my friends, living in a new climate that feeds plantlife in a way I’m not used to, and finally some plant donations from Sandra here at work (thanks lady!), I have started my own little apartment garden of sorts. Starting with those two given to me by Sandra when she was moving, and with the addition of a few more clippings from friends and one that I bought myself, I now have 5 lovely green houseplants and one cactus thriving in my modest, third-floor, East facing apartment. It’s so exciting! There are green things growing in my home!

I have watched new leaves sprout up and old ones die. I have nursed one plant I accidently broke when trying to repot it back to life. I have seen roots grow from dead ends. I have seen plants wilt with too much heat and then spring back to life when I give them a drink. And with all honesty, it really is miraculous to be a part of this other life cycle. What with my lovely feline friend Eleanor who I have been fostering for a little over a month now, there are all sorts of exciting things happening and wonderful new lives growing in my home, and it has been such a wonderful process to observe and be a part of. Maybe gardening will turn out to be in my blood after all…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006 at 1:20 pm by Guest and is filed under Books and Music Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.