Home. What memories does that word conjure up for you?
For me, it’s a garden full of earthly delights starting with bulbs and ground covers hugging the space beneath. Before the weather gets too hot, and the world is fresh and new.
It’s the scent of lilacs on such a spring day, or perhaps that of the stodgy hyacinth which smells so sweet.
The musical backdrop is Irish or bluegrass ballads. Bill and I have been watching The Civil War PBS special by Ken Burns again, and I feel so much when I watch it. It was the first long running program we watched together because it premiered the year we married, 1989. Those letters from soldiers still make me cry, and sometimes, home is all about tears.
Home should be a place from which fathers and mothers never leave, where children have love and enough good food to eat, and where there are plenty of good books to read.
Also, old movies especially those of the 1940s. I record these and fold laundry as I watch. You might try it too. Makes the chore go faster, and even if Mt. Everest lurks in your baskets, you don’t mind so much when Elizabeth Taylor winks at you.
And, if it’s a chilly spring day, you can always wrap up in a soft, worn quilt to finish watching. I would anyway.
I was watching the civil war episodes, too, and felt them emotionally moving for many reasons- the plight of slavery and the slowness to eradicate it, the shear amount of bloodshed, the fine and proud men, and the tragedy of civil war tearing apart people who should be at one another’s back.
And, oh, your garden is just amazing. It sings 🙂
Thanks Ilona for the kind words. I find the Civil War to be the most poignant of wars for all the reasons you describe. The show really makes these truths real to the viewer too.
What a thoughtful post. My childhood is not filled with gardens as such, but for several years I lived on a Vermont farm and had the freedom to roam with my cousins, and alone. We moved a lot, but that Vermont landscape on Lake Champlain is ‘home’ to me. I hope my grandchildren who all arrived after we moved to the End of the Road will treasure their memories of our woods, fields, Frog Pond – and the gardens.
Thank you Pat. I love hearing about your childhood. We were all so lucky we could roam about and play. My actual home was in town, and my mom didn’t garden, but there was a field to run and play in at the end of the street. I used to go there all the time. I know your grandchildren will have wonderful memories because you are such a dear person.
Yeah I say the Food inc. movie, quite interesting isn’t it?
Food, Inc. should be required watching Greggo. That’s just my opinion. Maybe things would then change.
What a beautiful post, Dee! This time of year there is no place I’d rather be than home–I don’t want to miss the chance to see the redbud’s first bloom or the first tulip. I was lucky enough to grow up in just the kind of home you describe; I hope my children have equally fond memories of their home.
I chuckled at your reply to Lisa–my grandkids are often my garden helpers and enjoy traipsing around with me to see what is blooming or looking for butterflies or caterpillars. But my children? Yep, they think I’m nuts, too:)
Thank you so much Rose. I love hearing about other family’s traditions especially garden related.
So sweet… those of us who have happy memories of “home” now or from the past are forever blessed.
I love your tulips and your ‘Geranium’ daffodil with the blue phlox. I think you’ve just IDed a lilac for me that I got in a trade a few years ago.
It’s an important question to ponder Dee…and I often wonder what part of ‘home’ will be what my children remember. Not, I think, necessarily what we imagine they will.
Dee…
Such sweet, thoughtful musings….and what a rich subject. I have so many memories from my childhood and adult years of my homes. Everytime my family and I moved, furniture out the door, with the bareness surrounding us, the home had evaporated…it had become a house….all that you described about your garden and what you do in your home is uniquely ‘You’.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to take a break from my work….this post was a breath of fresh air…warmly, fran
Thank you Fran. That I gave you a respite means so much to me. Hopefully, we will get to meet one day.~~Dee
The lilacs haven’t bloomed here yet. Redbuds are a mid to early peak. Seems your about 10 days ahead. I just finished watching the civil war on Neflix about a week ago. Also enjoyed baseball by Ken Burns also. He is great! Maybe we could get him to do a series on horticulture or farming.
Ooh, Greggo, if he would do something on horticulture or the production of food and how it came to be the manufacturing giant it is now (much like Michael Pollan’s
Food, Inc.
that would be splendid. The more we illuminate darkness, the less of it there is. People should be more in touch with their environment. Whoops! Got on my soapbox. Sorry.
Your garden is so pretty even at this early hour of the growing season Dee. I can see a bit of unplanted ground beyond the beautiful lilac. I bet in later years there will be more and more things planted. Your children will have such fond memories of the home and garden you and your husband have created for them. Memories fill the heart where ever they land.
Lisa, I’m ready to be able to play in it. I hope my children will have fond memories. Right now, they show no interest in gardening at all. They think I’m nuts.