It’s been ages since I’ve posted on this blog so I thought I’d let you know what’s happening. I am one third of the way through a process known as The Artist’s Way (book by Julie Cameron), which I mentioned in my last post. I’m finding myself unable to do a lot of writing aside from the weekly tasks and homework assigned by the book. It’s not just a lack of time, but a lack of will and inspiration. The book feels a lot like therapy to me, and it’s taking a lot of emotional energy and most of my...
I gotta practice, but first…
September 27, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
Right now I ought to be practicing. At least that’s what I’m thinking most of the time that I’m doing something else. That’s the life and curse of being a musician. Practicing is always hanging in the background, like that angel/devil hanging on your shoulders; only they’re both telling me to practice. Ever since I was a little kid taking piano lessons (which I begged for, by the way!), I have been nagged to practice. I assume that my Mom nagged me because she wanted to be sure she was getting her money’s worth, since money wasn’t growing in the...
More confessions of a lazy (and distracted) gardener
September 23, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
I was in London, England, having a wonderful time visiting my daughter for eight days, got back on Saturday. Since then, I have looked at the Tranquil Garden, walked through it, took note of a few chores to do, watered my planters, which were in dire need; but not much else has been accomplished. I could blame jet lag, work, other household chores, books I’m reading, essays I’m writing, etc., and all those would be legit excuses, but what it comes down to is the Autumn lethargy. Am I the only gardener who feels like it’s time to give up...
Musings on the Spirit
August 25, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
I was taken aback the other day when our son mentioned in passing, “Well, I didn’t grow up in a spiritual household”. It made me ponder the nature of spirituality. I don’t believe that religion and spirituality are the same thing, but what do I mean by spirituality? We didn’t talk much about it as the kids were growing up, that’s for sure, because there were many years when I didn’t know what I believed any more, and it’s hard to talk about that. I thought of myself as an agnostic until one day I made a casual comment about...
Neighbourhood Inspiration
August 9, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
When I’m out walking or biking I’m constantly distracted, delighted and entertained by what other people are doing in their gardens. Sometimes I like what I see and even stop to take a picture, other times I’m dying to pull out a huge weed that’s marring an otherwise lovely flower bed. You never know what someone might actually want in their garden, though, so I don’t usually succumb to that temptation. The other day I was catching my breath at the bottom of Cote-St-Antoine before biking up the hill through Westmount on my way home from rehearsal and was suddenly transfixed by the sight...
Confessions of a Lazy Gardener
July 26, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
This is just a quick confessional update, in which I lay bare the truth about my gardening habits. In the middle of the summer, no matter what the weather (since I can’t blame the heat this year, there isn’t any), I just don’t get out to do any serious gardening very often. I do my walkabouts, which are mostly for my own benefit- I don’t think the tranquility of the garden is affected in any way-and I pull out a few weeds, but digging holes etc, seems like far too much work at this point. My roses are still in...
Drawn by Beauty
July 21, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
Every day, when I have the time, I take a turn about the garden. It’s not exactly an acreage so this walkabout takes about five minutes if I walk slowly and examine things minutely. I like to do it while I’m drinking my coffee in the morning, but I often don’t get to it until later in the day. I like to check how the plants are faring; are the roses still blooming? Is something eating them? Are the raspberries ripe yet? Is anything suffering that I didn’t notice yesterday? Today, I was intrigued to notice that a bloom is coming up...
Another Rainy Day
July 1, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
Okay, it’s been rainy, cold, and… not sunny and warm. I’ve heard people complain that we haven’t experienced summer yet at all this year in Montreal. While I understand their pain, sort of, I can’t help being thankful that it’s not blistering hot and there’s no snow on the ground. For these two things I’m extremely grateful. Also, I love it when it rains because then I don’t have to water the garden. I love it when it rains because it lends a certain pathetic ennui to everything, and you don’t have to feel guilty about staying inside and knitting;...
More on Dastardly Weeds
June 28, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
A quick update on my last post. The weed I was worried about is probably (98% sure) not Japanese knotweed, according to a friend of mine who had it in her previous garden. She looked at the pictures and assures me it isn’t it. I’m waiting until she sees it IRL (in real life) before I breathe a sigh of relief, however. Still, I feel a bit better. The plant in question looks a lot like bee balm, as I mentioned, and has actually turned up in my bee balm patch, so maybe it’s a relative come over to visit. Not...
Resuming Ordinary Life
June 24, 2015June 5, 2023By Vivian Lee
I’m back in Montreal, getting into the groove of life. Cleaning up the house, laundry, the usual. Part of it is assessing what needs to be done in the garden of course. After 11 days, there’s much to do. When I was walking around James’s garden, which he and Jeremy christened Fiachre’s Glebe (look up Fiachre, he’s interesting!) , on Gambier Island (I talked about it in my last post), he bemoaned the irony that we gardeners spend the first month or two of spring madly planting and transplanting, and the rest of the summer madly cutting back what we’ve...