Some Thoughts

I’ve been online a while writing garden articles, first in my geocities free website (which is no more- although it is on the “wayback machine”). One of the early fellow garden writers I had enjoyed was Turning Earth. Do any of you know her through her site? Today I came across a reference to those early days,here:

‘Bloom where you are planted’
“I first saw these words on Ilona’s garden site. In the midst of a thousand bits of advice we read about how to be happy, successful, discover the meaning of life, these words seemed to me some of the most profound. It’s a nice garden-related metaphor, but of course applies to all of us, everywhere.

The web has enabled many of us to create our own small corners where we can “bloom”, whether our websites are about gardens or something else entirely.”

Do you know why I wanted to mention that? Because for me, to influence someone, in however small a way, to encourage or affirm , or inspire, is a great honor. To be a part of someone’s life in that way is just such a privilege. And like Lisa says, the web has offered many of us just such opportunities to connect like that. And in some ways, it comes back around, because she reminded me once more of the wisdom of that saying. I had to reconsider whether I had drifted from it into discontent and confused vision. I had originally written about that in a page now adapted for the php page it is on, an early description of this very Midwest garden I had begun, and now write about and photograph so much in this blog.

Turning Earth has remained in my bookmarks through computer crashes and virus meltdowns, and through lost bookmarks from old Netscape browser updates (now that dates me if nothing else does). Her photographs have always been excellent and her writing is evocative and top notch in my estimation.

Turning Earth was very influential upon me in terms of what I liked in a garden website. Blogging has changed my ability to create what I would like, in that it is a form of coding that I have not mastered. It is easier and more prolific to use, but I have less ability to manipulate it in terms of design. Sometimes I think about returning to the html format on my website, where I still have many of the older pages updated. But the blog platforms really simplify the ability to have writing output unencumbered by writing all that coding!

I still admire Lisa’s ability to make things artful and keep them simple at the same time. She has depth to her gardening, in experience and as a true plantswoman – which is not true of every one who writes about gardening. I love the glimpses into her garden and projects.

I suppose this is very boring to most you, sorry. Just thoughts after revisiting Lisa’s site and smitten with the fact that she had something so nice to say with a link to my site.

“Make new friends, but keep the old; One is silver, and the other gold”. Certainly, my friendship with Joanne has proven the truth of that old ditty (from Girls Scout days!!! If I go back much further I might disappear 🙂

The painting: Tomorrow by Edward Raymes.