Report From PIA – April 14
When I was in the seventh grade my friend Debbie Leach and I would make elaborate houses for our Barbie dolls. Houses? Well at the time they seemed like nothing less than palaces. Other girls in our class would tease us: “You still play with Barbie dolls?” but we paid them no mind. These classmates didn’t know that the Barbies themselves weren’t the focus of our attention…the dolls were just an excuse to create the environments.
The scrounging for found objects and the construction of the dwellings were most important. Fruit crates from the grocery, outdated carpet samples from the flooring store, and fabric from neighborhood mothers all were used to create palatial lodgings for Barbie and Ken. Wood scraps became furniture and a faceted bead was topped with a faux pearl to become a doll sized perfume bottle.
My love of combining found objects hasn’t left me, but there isn’t as much time to fool around creatively these days. Between speaking gigs, writing assignments, hosting GardenLine on Saturdays, volunteer work and garden consultations, not to mention blogging and actual gardening, there isn’t much free time.
Occasionally, however, there are times when nothing is planned and inspiration strikes. Creative juices flow, and I can build or plan as the muse takes me forward. We have periods in our days that are more conducive for creating than others, and free time comes and goes.
There are such seasons in our lives as surely as there are in gardens. I walked through my landscape this afternoon and was pleased to see the Anemone blanda in full bloom. I forgot that this plant was here! I bought these bulbs from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs a couple of years ago and planted them in the entry garden. They bloom in the spring and then disappear, so they are out of sight and mind until the next April or May. “Oh!” I thought when I saw them this afternoon, “It’s you! I’m so glad you’re back.”
This is one aspect of living with the seasons that I love. Some might appreciate being in warm weather for twelve months a year, but for me, the changes that living through the winter, spring, summer and fall bring are welcomed.
As our lives progress and the weather changes, we are reminded of past pleasures, and called to love beauty, creativity and surprise once again.
These spring-flowering Anemones come in blue, pink and white. I'm partial to the blue because they look so nice with the yellow daffodils that bloom at the same time.
