A Garden To Remember...

"Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there."                   ~Thomas Fuller~

I bought a new book, and I have carried it over to the cabin all week to read and admire after my morning chores at the barn.  It is a beautiful tribute to a lady and her garden. It is written by a friend from high school. Martha Tate has had an exciting life writing, working with HGTV, and traveling while meeting gardeners and seeing fabulous places and plants.  The garden in her book was discovered close to her home.  It is the journey of  Margaret Mosley, a late bloomer herself ...who started gardening after raising her children.  The book is filled with colorful photos, quotes, and an insight into this remarkable woman's life.  It also speaks volumes about its author, Martha Tate, who has given this 97 year old woman one of the most precious gifts and tributes that anyone could ever receive. 

 I suppose this book has hit close to home because my Mom is almost the age of Margaret Mosley. I found myself reading through tears...no, it is a very uplifting story, but yet it left a lump in my throat.  I began thinking about the movie, "Blazing Saddles"... that line about the secret to life...that "one" thing. I now believe that one thing to be "passion"..a reason to get up every morning...something to look forward to seeing and anticipating...something that lights a fire in your heart and soul.  It may be gardening or it may be something else, but it gives a person a reason for living.  I know that my Mom is constantly plotting and planning something in the future...and yes, add a streak of stubbornness, but looking ahead instead of dwelling in the past is important.  My Mom lived through a depression, a World War, having a spouse that was missing in action and then a POW..and then later lost him to Alzheimer's.  She lost a child, too...and her parents, siblings, and now most of her friends. Not everyone will live to be 97, but however many years we are given on this earth, I hope that they are filled with our passions and a true will to live. This is my Mom a few weeks ago with her granddaughter!!!! She enjoyed a ride around the lake..on a 4 wheeler!! Something she had not done since the golf cart fire!

  My Mom has always loved plants, too.  At one time, she grew the most beautiful African Violets.  Later years, it has been Christmas Cactus. About 3 years ago, she began giving away all of her flowers. She gave our oldest daughter one of her favorite cactus saying she could no longer see well enough to take care of it.  The next year, my daughter brought her that cactus back as a gift at Christmas.  It was in full bloom and thriving!  My Mom told her that she would keep it until January and then give it back to her...but it still sits on her "bar stools and boards" planter in her kitchen window!  I don't think my daughter minds! Just this week, we went on a great Christmas Cactus search, but we discovered it is a little early for them to be at the garden centers.  My Mom plans to give all the grandchildren a cactus for Christmas...and add a few to her collection!

 Lately, I have thought a lot about my life.  This fall has been a little nostalgic.  So many friends and family have passed away in the autumn months.  I have written many more names on my Beech tree leaves this year. How grateful I am to have known them. Certainly family and friends are important, but within us all, I think that spark of our own passion needs to be in a self preserving part of our soul to help us to be who we are. I have thought about my passion...this place and all of its plants and critters, and I sometimes think that it has become an obsession. I have always felt a deep connection to this place.  A Lakota Elder once told me that I have always been its caregiver.  I simply know it's home.

Thank you, Martha...your book, A Garden to Remember, will find a special place at The Cabin Path. I am so glad to reconnect with you after over 45 years!  When I think of all of the friends I have met through The Cabin Path, I do feel there must be a mystical force working! Martha, you have inspired me to regroup and find a way to resume my workshops, and to also finish and publish my books! I would love to meet Margaret Mosley, and through your book, I feel as though I have.