Gardens of the Future

The light from the camera's flash in the perfect place...

We left the family two days ago and it already seems like forever. It was the best Christmas...I suppose other Christmases felt just as good at the time, but this one had just a little more added to it. It seemed there was just a little more loving energy, felt in all manner of ways.

Graydon and I became dentist and assistant as we played with his play-dough dentist kit. I made the teeth and placed them in Mr. Towell's cavernous, plastic mouth and Graydon drilled, made fillings and pulled any tooth that looked suspicious. And eventually...they all looked suspicious!

It was his favourite game...he even dreamt about being inside someone's mouth the night after we'd played hard with the toy. Perhaps he will become a dentist in future years...he may be surprised to learn, however, that not all patients want every tooth in their heads pulled!

My grandson Graydon pulling one of Mr. Towell's teeth, completely intent...

Brianna and I went shopping together on the Internet this year. She and I would go peruse the actual stores so often, when I lived close by. This year, we decided to try and shop together on the web and it worked very well. She found her items and I bought them...could there be any better way for a seventeen year old girl and her grandmother, who do not live near one another?

Our granddaughter Brianna, looking angelic, but do not be deceived...

She also modelled her graduation dress for us. Oh, my goodness! So many thoughts raced through my head as she stood before us in the glimmering, shimmery white dress! How could the baby I'd held in my arms, just yesterday, it seems, turn into this brilliant butterfly? I wanted to take a photo, but that will wait until the actual date. Suffice it to say, tears ran freely...

I enjoyed watching my super efficient daughter Heidi cook for the hordes of people who forever required food. I did make the stuffing for the Turkey...oh, and I made some butter tarts...but that was all I contributed this time to the holiday feasts.

My daughter Heidi washing the inevitable dishes...

Years ago, my daughter refused anything to do with cooking. She was sure it was not something she had any interest in whatsoever. But after a few years with her family, she's an amazing, passionate chef and loves to experiment with unusual ingredients. And after a summer spent in renovations, even her surroundings in the kitchen reflect her passion for foods.

A treasured ornament...

I am, once again, in awe at how the Universe works. You see, I am waiting for another surprise that is, most definitely, in store for her, another passion which will shock her with its intensity.

She will become a gardener. There are hints of it showing now. I want to chuckle; it is so obvious to me...


Once someone becomes passionate about cooking, about using fresh ingredients instead of canned or prepared foods, about finding out and realizing how many pesticides and hormones come in foods...one becomes interested in searching out the freshest, most local of foods. 

Yummy, cheesy biscuits...

At first, it is to showcase one's Art of Cooking. After all, one cannot show off a lovely salad with wilted Lettuce. But soon, interest turns to the taste of these foods. Surely, a row of Lettuce grown with love and care from one's own hands will reflect that love in its taste?

And this is how one thing, one passion leads to another...


Heidi, at some point, will become interested in the Soil and what it can produce for her, and I will be delighted to stand by and watch and offer advice, needed or not, heh, heh...


With extended families there is not always as much time as one wishes to have. We only spent an afternoon with our ten month old twin granddaughters...not nearly enough time for me to even distinguish the two with any certainty. I discovered, however, that they are intensely huggable, never mind which one it is...Kaleelah or Keauni.

Another suspicious tooth...yes, very slimy and disgusting, for sure!

Graydon was counting the days and nights we had remaining to our stay every day. When the time came to leave that little boy, my heart bled, as I know his did as well. It is the hardest thing for me to leave my family, all of them, knowing there are many things I will miss as they go about their lives.

Granddaughters Kaleelah and Keauni...

But. I am so grateful I am able to have great quality to our relationships, even if there is not much quantity. All of us in my family have worked hard to keep our contact with each other close, no matter the distance between us.


I find I love being a grandmother. I find it is, perhaps, my passion. It is so great to watch these little people grow into adults, with no more requirement on my part than to listen, advise and love, and with no expectations. What will be, will be. How different from parenting!


And so. Now I am at home, picking up the threads of my own life. What will be ahead, in the coming, tumultuous year?

A young mule Deer welcoming us home, back to the Forest...

No matter. I will live life day to day, as I have practiced doing for the last few months. I am becoming better at it; the difficulty is with knowing which day it is in the mundane World. Living life in the now, this instant, has its drawbacks, at times.


I wish all of you, those of you that have taken time out of your busy lives to read this long essay and those of you that haven't, all of you...a happy and healthy and abundantly, loving year in 2012. May you all experience balance and serenity and joyful, peaceful energies in the year to come...


HAPPY NEW YEAR!