Where you shall find me, if you can find me...
Is here!
I hope you enjoyed our Mad Tea Party in the last post, I know I did.
I loved everyone's contributions with their own party, such a delightful time.
I was strolling through my garden, as I do -
Although I must admit that the pumpkin vines have exploded with the vast rain that we have had, and my paths have shrunken ever so small, some of which I can not even enter. But if the option is to remove pumpkin vines, or have paths, I will always choose to leave the vines of course :-)
But, as I was saying...
(if you know me, you know that I veer)
I was strolling through my garden when I had an idea!
What if I came here with 7 days of blogging?
Is blogging really dead as they say?
Well, maybe, but I will say this -
Social Media is a mind numbing scroll fest, and whilst it is good fun in the correct doses...
It is missing something so beautifully personal and lasting.
And with all the hacking and people losing their Instagram accounts and years of work, I thought...
Perhaps we have put our eggs in a dangerous basket of something that we do not own in the end.
That can just poof, totally out of our control.
And so, that made me hug my blog and say, I misssssed you so much.
For what you were, and what you are, a safe haven of thoughts - just waiting for me to type.
A place of peace and an open door to anyone who would like to venture in at any time.
Archives saved forever, which you can access at your leisure if you so wish to.
And so, I put it to a test, a test to myself.
Blogging for 7 days - and then let me see where that leads.
Because I have a gaping hole in my heart for this place.
And whether anyone is here to read it or not, is no matter.
(although of course, I love to know you are here)
I've come to an older and wiser place within me, where things are done for the joy of the heart, and no other reason.
Nothing else to be gained or lost, if there is fulfillment of the soul.
And so, here I am, inviting you into my personal challenge of 7 days of blogging.
Through the arbor of memories.
Memories because, those seeds growing over the arbor above were sent to me by my friend Charlene, when Baby died.
That was 11 years ago.
I found a few I had hidden away in a drawer, and decided to plant in May, to see what would happen.
Well, something is definitely happening as you can see.
I've done 98% of the gardening in this garden from seeds alone.
No store trips, only online shopping and gathered seeds from last year.
There are two types of pumpkins.
I love an old fashioned jack-o-lantern, and then what you see below, the best pumpkins for eating, which are called Fairytale pumpkins or Musquee De Provence.
I've had endless types of squash, bell peppers, citrus, broccoli, cabbage, herbs, flowers, etc. - all summer long.
It's been a dream.
And now all of the different butterflies are arriving, just as they do, towards the end of summer.
They are obsessed with the milkweed, which makes me ever so glad that I planted it.
And of course, the flowers that thrive in the high desert are also the butterflies' favorites, which include cosmos and zinnias.
We have had the rainiest monsoon summer, much like the summers of my childhood.
Where everything turns green, even the mountains look green.
Growing things tower under big fluffy clouds, and there are endless flowers to be picked.
We were so desperate for the droplets from the sky the last few years.
I love to see what I can see out here, and so you can imagine my delight when I somehow spotted a caterpillar crawling around the chicken coop.
Which is only used as an arbor of sorts, and secret hideout, and holds no chickens at all :-)
So, caterpillars are safe indeed!
Sometimes, when I walk into the garden, hundreds of butterflies and moths all quickly flutter up into the air, and I am standing right in the center of winged magic.
True Magic.
I have tried to photograph or video it, but it is not easy to do, and does not capture what being in it is actually like.
So, you will simply have to imagine it the best that you can.
It has been a lovely summer really.
There is so much going on all around, I feel like the luckiest person alive to just be digging in the dirt, raking clippings and showering under the lemon tree.
Just minding my own beeswax and being safe in my little nucleus.
I have ventured to see my close family on a couple occasions, and dance and sing and eat and laugh.
Lovely visits, and landscapes along the way.
And all around my parent's house, up hills and mountains, all you see are wildflowers.
Everywhere you turn, there are flowers everywhere due to all the rain.
Of course, my garden is giddy about the whole thing as well.
It is growing to Jurassic levels.
I am like Thumbelina amongst the garden paths, it's just unreal to me.
And so, I dream and wish and think.
I watch butterflies become covered in pollen.
I think about all the things I would like to share, and those that I have not.
But am more motivated to share - the stories I've been writing and illustrating for 20 years.
The things I have only told to maybe 3 people very close to me.
I think that since you only live once, perhaps my opportunity to share is now.
One of the things I think about is -
Some of these characters in my stories have helped me through darkest days, as well as shiniest best of times.
They are so dear and near to my heart, that I struggle to set them free.
But if I don't, then they will only be mine.
And that is okay too -
But my reason for sharing is, if they could help me, maybe they could do the same for you?
I am never ever alone with the thoughts of my mind.
Why my mind is so full of all these characters and places that keep me company, I will never know.
There is so much to capture, and they show up constantly.
I draw and paint every day, even though I don't share it all.
But then, as I just said, perhaps the time is now?
These are the things that I think about, as I pick my flowers and herbs.
Admiring the intricacies of the petals.
How could such things exist?
Flowers to entice the pollinators, to make the natural world go round.
The mysterious gifts, of which I will never comprehend, and mostly just gaspingly admire.
And if it is my luck, to grow and gather such petaled creatures, then I shall.
I have dreamt of this my whole life.
Of this place, this garden, these moments.
I knew myself when I was very young, and I built all these dreams.
I saw them as reality - secret gardens, blossoms as tall as houses.
Tiny houses to hide in, dogs to kiss, paint to splash around.
If you have a dream and you see it clearly, hold it dearly, it can come true.
It's all around you, just grasp it right out of the sky and hold it close.
My dreams might seem small to some, but they are grand to me.
Because all the small things are what really bring lasting joy.
Don't you think?
And so, I give you Day 1 of my rambling nonsense.
And I shall see you tomorrow, if the bees allow :-)
Looove, Vanessa
