Comments on: Senses and sensibilities

By: Carmel Mikol

Carmel Mikol — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:23:48 +0000

Stephanie:
I started reading this in a hurry, but had to slow down. It made me think of all the things I’ve lost – words, songs, people, perfect moments, memories of the details of someone’s skin – and realize how transient these things are. They become what we recall them to be, not what they were. They become shaped by our ability to reinvent them in our current description. I guess we have to be okay with that. I wonder what your garden will look like in your memory twenty years from now…

By: carla gunn

carla gunn — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:24:21 +0000

Wow Stephanie, great blog entry! I am hounded by a lot of the same thoughts and fears — I too often look at my partner and breath him in deeply, anxious never to forget the details of his being after he’s gone. But he’s whole and healthy and here! Why am I always waiting for “the other shoe to drop”?

For me there are two things that get me out of the past and prevent me from venturing too far into the future: 1) writing about something other than myself and 2) gardening. There’s some great research about how the right hemisphere of the brain is the part of us that is fully anchored in the present moment and that if we can engage it, we will have achieved “minfulness”. Dr. Jill Bolte explores this in her book “A Stroke of Insight” — a fascinating read. You can watch a talk on TED on this topic at: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

It made me cry with present-minded gratitude…

Nature’s blessings,

Carla

By: Bettina Goodwin

Bettina Goodwin — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:51:17 +0000

I loved your choices. I think they were real and from the heart. Perfect!
The sandwiches your Noni (my aunt) used to make tasted so good because the key ingredient was love.
Great blog!
Bets

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:15:35 +0000

hi Stephanie… whew- this really made me think. I just came in from the garden, the much-needed sun, the breeze off the Bay. I never appreciated gardening when I was a kid…it was something I had to water, or weed, or pick stones out of, while my father worried about weather, seeds, whether the strawberries would produce….he worked outside three months of the year, most of his later life – whether gardening, mowing, or trying to maintain our old family home.

One summer a year or two ago, I took off my worn gloves and caught a whiff of something that almost spun me around, thinking I would see him standing there…it was the odour of hands released from the restraint of work gloves, warm and sweet with the smell of earth, old cotton and just a tinge of perspiration. Fresh from the yard, just in time to wash up for supper. Wish I had a pair of his old gloves – to go along with this memory.

Paula

By: Darlene Longo

Darlene Longo — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:31:56 +0000

Stephanie… a garden is symbolic of much more than its parts. I think its the perfect answer.

As for memories …lets be thankful we have them the good ones always linger.I still have dreams of my dad bringing home gadgets and I always wake in the morning with a smile. We are lucky to have had them in our lives, for how ever long.
Myself to forfeit a sense …how about guilt (thought that might get a laugh out of you.