Fresh New Day» plants

Your inner jungle

Lynsey — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:50:28 +0000

Although we are heading into Spring, the southerly wind made it harder for me to believe. It’s not that I didn’t want to believe. I hate the bleak days – not just here in Wellington – but anywhere. I seem to have patina of memories of bleak landscapes blurring slowly into each other, water coloured images melting into each other.

I go for a walk at lunch time – fresh air and blood moving – some energy to get through the afternoon. As I’m walking I wonder what the rest of the world is up to. There’ll be the usual bad things, of course, amplified one moment by the media, forgotten a few seconds later. And there will be as many, if not more, good things to be found in the moment.

Where are you right now? Exactly where, exactly right now?

Are you seeing what you want to see? Or are you seeing what you always see?

I often retreat to my inner jungle. It’s pleasantly warm there. The sun is always rising. The plants are beautiful – fragrant, lush. The animals are starting to move around. I feel as though I’ve been away on the longest journey and it feels so good to be back.

Manifesto
05. Every day is now. The present moment.
14. Every day the ordinary can be the extraordinary.
19. Every day make time for yourself.

Ephemera

Lynsey — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 10:38:23 +0000

So beautiful. Early morning sun sparkling on the countless spider webs stranding across the graceful parsley umbrels. The seeds are maturing and already the replacement plants are beginning to sprout in our herb garden.

Taking in a deep breath I can smell the moisture, the parsley, the thyme, and the sun-warmed linen. The birds are calling, somewhere a lawn mower is meditating. Later summer, perhaps.

Lately everything seems there yesterday, gone today. For the moment, there was a silence, a stillness. The whole world catching a breath, taking a moment. And then the curtain ever-so-slowly, gently, drawn out by a restless breeze.

I breathed out.

Manifesto
02. Every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.
05. Every day is now. The present moment.
48. Every day there are things you can’t change. You can change the way you think about them and deal with them.

Friends and lovers

Lynsey — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:47:23 +0000

One of my favorite sights is of elderly couples clearly still in love with each other – you know the kind – they look like they’ve almost grown together. So familiar, so accommodating, so together, so in love. It’s not cute, puppies and bunnies are cute. This is something else – in their frail and faded ways there’s a strength not seen in young (or even middle aged) love. Belief. Commitment. Tested and true.

Some plants will join up and grow together – the roots of olives, as an example, will grow together and support the two (or more) trunks and leaf canopy. Carrots will grow together if the seeds are planted close enough. I think this is also how it works for humans. If two people are compatible, given enough time and mutual support they will grow together. It’s hard to work out where one starts and the other stops. Friends and lovers. Together. Forever.

Manifesto
06. Every day you make choices.
10. Every day connect with somebody.
18. Every day express love. Some people need to hear it. Most people need to see it. Don’t take it for granted.

141 – Victoriana

Lynsey — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:15:58 +0000

Tuberous begonia flowers have a kind of Victorian atmosphere about them. I think it’s their delicate layer upon layer of petals – in this case the colour of linen – and that they live in hot houses. The Palm House at Kew. Wardian cases. Tuberous begonias, along with aspidistras, orchids, carnivorous plants, and palms, help form the horticultural features in a steam punk world. Steam punk is an aesthetic movement dedicated to considering what our world look like if we’d retained Victorian design ideals – brass, leather, cogs, goggles, and fine craftsmanship. I love it. I don’t have any aspidistras, orchids, or palms any more, and I don’t grow tuberous begonias, but I do still have a nice young Nepenthes growing to welcome guests.

Manifesto
03. Every day is an opportunity to reflect on the past.
09. Every day learn something new.
42. Every day celebrate. Who you are. What you have achieved. Things that matter to you.

086 – Sip the cool green

Lynsey — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:51:09 +0000

If we were the size of butterflies, we would be able to rise up in the cool stillness of the early morning. We would be able to take our first breaths of the morning air and we would be able to breathe as if it were the first day ever. We would feel the clean air rushing into our bodies and with each escaping breath we would release the staleness from our souls freely. Gratefully. Calmly.

We would feel the warming day and the cooling night parting company. We would smell the dawn rain and the damp earth and we would feel vibrantly energised and alive.

If we were the size of butterflies we would be able to sip the cool water and be cleansed and we would drink and drink again until our thirst was quenched. We would feel the refreshing purity of the water reaching the very essence of our being.

We would hear the hum of bees and the rustle of insects and the birds calling the way that they have forever and our world would be filled with the joyous noises of life. We would hear the stems of plants squeaking, rubbing, stretching as they grow past each other.

If we were the size of butterflies we would care a great deal more about the vibrations of green – the tone-on-tone harmonics – and our world would seem like a very, very large, mysterious, and beautiful place indeed.

If we were the size of butterflies.

Manifesto
01. Every day is a fresh new day.
05. Every day is now. The present moment.
39. Every day trust that there is a bigger picture. You are a part of it even if you may not know what it is.