Oh do I ever identify with this compulsion to be outside. Been that way from about age two. Hope to leave my body on a mountain top---at a ripe old age, of course. Moving into a retirement facility apartment would be the beginning of the end for me. The earth, the sky, the grass, the trees nurture me as much if not more than the food I eat.
I'm a late bloomer, living under a grandmother and grandfather Catalpa tree. Regenerating a perennial garden with the help of a Master Gardener, tending the. garden in whole new way since my partner of 47 years died. He said to me " Bury my ashes in the garden, and you will stay in the house for the rest of your life." So I am out in the garden to relate and continue our relationship - to nourish and be nourished by the garden.
Much of my childhood was spent outside on farms, roaming and playing in woods and creeks, and running along paths through fields, orchards, and woods. Some time was spent in gardens, extraordinary gardens in my memory, but not gardening - I had a reading nook in the garden of my grade school years, which I recall with a very solid sense of a place to venture through the imagination in other places. I also recall hot miserable hours harvesting strawberries, etc., and, when older, suckering tobacco. But none of my varied experiences of outdoors is associated with gender or my emerging identity as lesbian. Nor with the aesthetics or experience of gardening - instead my associations are with physical and social freedom, unconstrained by family or cohort expectations, but rather exulting in the joys of solitude. I am sure that made it much easier for me to "come out" as an adult, however.
I keep trying to puzzle out what is clearly a connection for me, perhaps the physical freedom related to social freedom and even more to my ability to be myself. I keep chewing on it. Love the image of you with your reading nook.
Oh do I ever identify with this compulsion to be outside. Been that way from about age two. Hope to leave my body on a mountain top---at a ripe old age, of course. Moving into a retirement facility apartment would be the beginning of the end for me. The earth, the sky, the grass, the trees nurture me as much if not more than the food I eat.
Yes, ever since age 1 as well. Love your image of the mountain top.
What a great column.
Thanks, Rosemary
I'm a late bloomer, living under a grandmother and grandfather Catalpa tree. Regenerating a perennial garden with the help of a Master Gardener, tending the. garden in whole new way since my partner of 47 years died. He said to me " Bury my ashes in the garden, and you will stay in the house for the rest of your life." So I am out in the garden to relate and continue our relationship - to nourish and be nourished by the garden.
What a moving reason to be out in the garden. How very beautiful, just like the catalpa. Thanks for reading and responding.
This is such a rich exploration of experience and language. "Out in the Garden" says it all. It even has biblical and mythological resonance.
Much of my childhood was spent outside on farms, roaming and playing in woods and creeks, and running along paths through fields, orchards, and woods. Some time was spent in gardens, extraordinary gardens in my memory, but not gardening - I had a reading nook in the garden of my grade school years, which I recall with a very solid sense of a place to venture through the imagination in other places. I also recall hot miserable hours harvesting strawberries, etc., and, when older, suckering tobacco. But none of my varied experiences of outdoors is associated with gender or my emerging identity as lesbian. Nor with the aesthetics or experience of gardening - instead my associations are with physical and social freedom, unconstrained by family or cohort expectations, but rather exulting in the joys of solitude. I am sure that made it much easier for me to "come out" as an adult, however.
I keep trying to puzzle out what is clearly a connection for me, perhaps the physical freedom related to social freedom and even more to my ability to be myself. I keep chewing on it. Love the image of you with your reading nook.