“Where you take a rose, my boy, a thistle cannot grow.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett, “The Secret Garden”
My friend Sandy's garden is located on her terrace directly behind her town in a municipality north of Oakland, California.
It is a small space compared to the area in which she once lived in the northwest of the country, but it has made an oasis of peace, a mixture of plants and works of art, homemade bird feeders and everyday objects in this environment.
The last time I saw it, it was before the Covid pandemic, and it changed form and organization – easier and less fussy. Very peaceful, of design, and it took some time to do it. Hanging on the fence is a sign; “Garden rules – hear fucking, feel the breeze, read a book, make a nap, relax.”
I mention it because I spent a few days with her last month. We didn't go to San Francisco at all and honestly went out of little, except in one or two meals near restaurants nearby. Much of our time was spent on the terrace, talked … and also quietly.
Have you ever had a friend with whom you could talk about anything, maybe even things that you don't even discuss with a spouse, deep secrets and pain that is rarely spoken or even recognized? If you have, you are lucky. This friend of mine is one of them.
I would like to run your photo here, but she would hate that. Instead, I will show you a small climax in part of your garden.
As a woman in the 80s, she took care of choosing where she would do her last stand in life after her husband died. She lives a life in which she gives others – e.g. B. Friends who no longer drive the doctors and appointments. She works through the County Library Association and meets twice a week with an adult learner and helps her master reading and life skills.
Every week she visits a friend who will probably soon say goodbye to dementia and his associated complications. The two recently talked about dogs from dogs, and the girlfriend was worried that she was unable to train one. Sandy assured her that the (imaginary) dog would train her instead so that there would be no problems. It was a sweet moment.
She often finds ways to laugh.
I have learned that almost all families are more complicated than they seem to be, and if they live long enough, they will see and experience the multitude of joys and worries that their family can love. My girlfriend and family are no exception, and I know that she is a source of comfort and a gentle ear for everyone.
She charges herself every day by being peaceful in the garden and sitting under Bougainvillea, Bacopa, Lantana, Tangerine Lucky Lantern Abutilon, Geraniums and various succulents and herbs. She doesn't use the herbs much in cooking, but rubs them – especially Rosemary – between her fingers to breathe in the smells.
Almost every day she takes her morning coffee outside, the smaller gold finch, the black-cut chickadees, the western peeling jays (I thought it was Bluebirds, Oops), Oak Titmouse and darkness Jungcos-All on the feeder in her small shadow tree. And of course there are the Kolibris.
She often reads out there.
I know I don't have the patience or ability to create such a space for myself, but I'm so glad that I shared your for a while. I felt really calm and encouraged and peaceful there.
I started reading the advantages to experience outdoors outdoors in the early morning. When I met the advice for the first time some time ago, I saw it as so much as a Woo-Woo pseudo-science and released it except that it was the general warning that it was good to come outdoors.
During the time in Sandy's garden, I have returned to the topic, and I am surprised that after sunrise there is a serious science about the outside business outdoors and that researchs from people such as the American neuroscientist Andrew Huberman to organizations such as the national institutes of health, the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic and more come. And even old scholars from Greek-Roman and early Chinese times speak.
Where was I?
Short version: For optimal advantages in the production of vitamin D in the skin, the natural sleep-wake cycle of the body (circadian rhythm) regulates the production of serotonin (a neurotransmitter that is associated with feelings of the well-being of well-being and happiness), reducing the stress level (release of endorphins) and possibly even improvement The cognitive function, blood pressure and martic pressure and menu, the emphasis, the advice and the input and diameter in which you have health. It is cloudy, there is still sunlight outside).
That seems to be a lot of profit if you only open the slider to my deck and step outside in the morning. It is a little embarrassed to me that I only continue to continue.
I have a few potted plants and some great looking geraniums that bloom on the deck. It is definitely something that I can do to sit with them with them and to be drawn to the east in the morning.
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett, “The Secret Garden”
Stefanie Pettit, correspondent Stefanie