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Refresh, Restore, Resume

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A sip to refresh my spirit, as I start my 2018 Reset Adventure

Refresh, restore and resume has been the theme of my 2018. As I age, I am listening to my body, as well as my Elders. The things I used to do, are done a bit differently now. Refreshing my mindset on what I want to do took center stage over everything else. I actually hired garden assistance to clear underbrush in my woodland area. I have never trusted anyone to lay hands on my garden, except for me. Afterall, who would know the terrain, the journey of each plant and how to love them, except for me?

Restoring my energy by feeding my body before my overnight flight.

Restoring my faith in mankind, trusting that everything happens for a reason and feeding my soul has been educational. A learning experience even if I thought I understood. The assistance in my garden came at a time when I really needed to turn off negative energy and seek positive interaction. Two guys clearing and making a huge difference in an evening, returning to finish the job, another day.  If I had taken this task on, it would have taken me a lot longer and my energy zapped by overdoing it. Help is a good thing and knowing when to ask, is even smarter.

Initially overwhelming, this year has been quite interesting. To be quiet, be still, as my Dad would say, was a way to find my inner garden again. Taking time to refresh my inner spirit by traveling, taking time for me, as well as restoring my faith, was necessary. I can now resume creatively finding all things beautiful…everywhere!

Traveling to places old and new. It’s August and time for me…

Meanwhile in Porto by way of Paris, I am present…

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Inner Gardening with Black Panther

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A Red Carpet event after viewing the Black Panther was awesome. I ran into old friends and made new acquaintances. Delicious food, awesome vendors and an opportunity to have great conversation about the movie.

Long overdue, the movie ” Black Panther” was a delight to see. Recalling the tidbit of a preview shared at Blogalicious last year, I knew I wanted to see this movie. What I did not realize at the time, was how much the messaging would resonate to the world as we know it today.

It was refreshing to have a VIP event from a notable organization – Sisters4Sisters sponsor an after party for a purpose. The purpose was to send their group of girls S4S Daughter’s of Destiny to camp this summer.

I eat, breathe and sleep gardening. Seeing the beautiful land called Wakanda simply took my breath away. Fiction can always make mediocre things look phenomenal. Wakanda, however was not mediocre at all. It was a self-sustaining community that had not been colonized. Considered a small, backwards farming community, Wakanda was not on the radar of the outside world. This was the blessing that sustained its beauty. From the lush forests, mountains, magnificent waterfalls and beautiful people, Wakanda was naturally a beautiful land. The rituals that took place in the water to the beautiful heart-shaped plants, Wakanda was genuinely a place to dream about.

When Erik Killmonger became a force to be reckoned with, one of the first things he did was destroy life. Erik ordered the destruction of the heart-shaped plants that caressed

the vibranium. This heart-shaped plant was a herb that when properly prepared, allowed only those of royal blood to partake. Drinking this herbal concoction, allowed the person to transition and get advice from the ancestors who had passed on. It also provided strength to the recipient for the return journey back to earth.

In today’s world, as development razes older communities or breaks new ground, one of the first acts is removal of vegetation. Stripping the gifts of Mother Nature, to start with a clean slate. Is it replaced? Minimally, in most cases. The symbolism of this act in the Black Panther movie has stuck with me. When change presents itself, why is it easier to get rid of the unfamiliar?

What about integrating the old into new concepts? I could easily compare this to preparing pots for a new season. Should we dump all of the soil out and start with nothing ? Is it possible to mix in a little fresh soil to enhance the old? Is the old soil totally lifeless…or can it be revived?

All of the imagery was not positive. Just like in the garden, if you leave behind diseased foliage, it will cause problems in the garden. Killmonger was left behind by his uncle, which led him to feel unloved and unwanted. We must stop leaving behind things to haunt our existence as we plant seeds of positivity in our life gardens. Usually there is a way, preferably organic, to address and catch negativity before it becomes a problem.

There was other messaging such as the ability for this community to thrive, without outside influence. There were beautiful fabrics, wonderful market scenes and honestly, the people appeared to be happy.

There was even the opportunity to have a make up artist decorate your face in authentic markings of strong female warriors.

The messaging in the Black Panther movie was subliminal, but caught up with the viewer after the show. The conversations about the Black Panther will continue for some time.

I had to pull out my black and  authentic fabric with the triangles carefully placed. After all, the messaging was key. On this night, I was Royalty.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I will see it again. I must say, it was quite refreshing to see a movie depicting Africa Americans with a positive ending and a willingness to share. We can create our own version of Wakanda by planting seeds of love, knowledge, prosperity, and by making sure that no one is left behind as we pursue success in this world.

Wakanda Forever…if only in my dreams…

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Dad, My Favorite Gardener

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Dad, My Favorite Gardener. How many people can call their favorite gardener, Dad? A gardener in so many ways, he was more than just your average guy. Dad was a man who was thoughtful, firmly kind and always desired that we be the best we could be in whatever we chose to be.

I never ceased to stop taking pictures of him, of us. I realized that was a way of capturing a moment in time.

Dad wanted me to “be a lady” so he reinforced the seeds of genteelness that my Mom sowed into my life. When he was fertilizing the hydrangeas to change the color or pruning the roses, I had to stand back and listen – instead of helping. Dad said “This is not something a Lady should do. You can water when I am done.” I was not amused, to say the least. In my mind, I just knew that one day, I would be fertilizing and pruning in my own garden. One day I would know more. I would understand the techniques and the dynamics behind it. I was expected to be good at whatever I chose to do.

My Mom would say, “Take Care of your Father when I am gone” and we did. Afterall, we honored Our Mom (our parents)  and would not think of letting her (them) down.

The original plants who sowed a seed which created a landscape gardener turned garden writer called Me.

Dad was a Minister as well as a teacher, and definitely lived what he preached. Sowing seeds of wisdom and his knowledge of the Bible enhanced the lives of many he met along his life journey. In Churches from DC to Maryland, Dad sowed words that continue to linger in the heart and souls of many who knew him. Among his words to us, “Give me my flowers while I can enjoy them”….and that we did. From Orchids to Freesia to mixed bouquets, there was almost never a time when we did not shower my Dad with flowers to enjoy no matter the season.

“Give me my flowers while I can enjoy them” Dad would say. So we did as often as possible.

Dad’s birthday was like a National holiday to us. Everything just stopped in our world. Proud to be a Navy Seabee, we made certain that his birthday cake reflected this achievement. Anything to make him feel and know how special WE felt to have him in our lives. To be able to call him Dad was a privilege.

We celebrated him like he was King of It All…and to us he was.

It has been officially a year. As we have spent this year closing down my parent’s house and preparing it for sale, I have realized so many things. Reflecting on time spent while tending his garden, I am more like him than I ever knew.

Dad’s tools are now mine. From the pictures, sketches, and projects he was so proud of, his Tithonia seeds, garden notes, and Mantis tiller are now all mine. While digging up some of the plants, reseeding the lawn, raking up the leaves and sharing the mums he left behind, I realized I had been quiet. I was not writing, nor was I doing or being the best that I could be. I had been feeling kind of lost without my Dad, especially as Autumn neared.

Autumn was the perfect time to shop for more Mums or sit outside in the carport and reflect on the season’s successes and failures. That conversation did not happen this year. There was no longer a way to deny the void was real. In year’s past, after every MANTS, every Flower Show, after every garden journey, I rushed over to see my Dad. I had to share what was new and exciting. Listening eagerly, he would adorn his head with whatever garden related baseball cap I brought him.

In turn, he shared with me what was going to be planted in the pots along the front for the year. Always sharing what he was going to order, he pulled from the stacks of catalogs in his “Garden Office”. His “Garden Office” was the chair beside “his” chair in the kitchen. Starting in early December, the “Garden Office” was filled with the sticky note, page folded catalogs. Easily accessible, right next to his Bible and his blood pressure monitor, Dad was always eager to show me something new.

I miss my parent’s. My Mom, my favorite seamstress and I miss my favorite gardener, my Dad. Life goes on and I must continue to honor them by being the best I can be. To be given the gift of working with my hands has been the best gift ever!

Today I honor my Dad…RIP (I know you are both watching!)

Gone but never forgotten, my Dad, my Garden Buddy, My Best friend…..

 

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Mental Restoration Via Gardening

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Up close and personal blooms. that emmitted an intoxicating smell that drew you in…

Mental restoration is very much needed in the world today. There are many ways one can pursue this thought process. As I go about my day, people often ask me why am I so happy. Mental restoration has played a very large part of my inner peace. I find mental restoration in nature. Sometimes I find it by just thinking about the mysteries of the garden. I usually find it as I am embracing the beauty that surrounds us.

With so much going on in the world, I spend a fair amount of time tuned out to the madness but tuned into nature.  I can wander aimlessly on a path or on a street and breath in the essence of trees.  When I see a beautiful plant, I can peer into its inner core and absorb the essence of its existence. This practice allows a moment of restoration and clarity.

A tree in the Luxembourg Garden, Paris, France 2016

For example, do you ever look up into the branches of a tree or do you walk past it? Do you ever stand still and look up at the clouds?Better yet, do you ever find a patch of grass and lay down and just look up to the sky? These are great ways to clear the mind and create more space for thoughts of restoring inner peace.

A few alternatives ways to describe restoration is to refurbish, renovate or to overhaul. With all of the negative energy that we are exposed, mental restoration should be done daily  – if not weekly.

Here are a few key ways to make mental restoration easy.

  • Make it a part of your daily ritual to go outside and breathe in the air around your home. NOT YOUR OFFICE. As the saying goes, home is where the heart is. Home should be the one place where true mental restoration should take place.
  • Garden. Simply stated, you don’t need a big plot. You can use a pot – inside or out. One can create a menagerie of plants or a pot. Simple is best, as this should not be a chore, but an act of interacting with nature. Taking care of something to bring you joy.
  • Collect things in the garden or in the woods that capture your attention. Place this artifact where you can look at it and remember how you happened upon it. Does it mentally take you back to that place? Does it refresh and restore your mind when you look at it?
Lotus – Beautiful blooms rising high above the less than perfect environment..

Find that special place, that special corner of the world that you can mentally hold onto.  Close your eyes and pause there – often and repeatedly. When you repeat this exercise, mental restoration will become easier and easier. Even if you are not a gardener, learn to find one thing in nature that you can embrace. Nature is free. There is no cost to look up and notice awesome branching of a tree that catches your eye. To look into the depths of a bloom and notice it’s inner beauty costs nothing at all.

My Dad used to tell me in his own way to just be still. To allow my mind to rest and just be. Wandering through my mental garden gave me this joy. The ultimate way to restore myself mentally when the energies of the world are not loving and kind. I can sit in the garden and just be – no weeding, no watering, no deadheading.

When people on the street are tuned on to devices, I often wonder what is so important. If they just paused to look up, embrace their surroundings, what a beautiful gift of mental restoration that would be.

Off to practice a bit of mental restoration,

Teri, Cottage In The Court

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