Tag Archives: Boston Globe

Nelson Mandela: prisoner, president…gardener?

I’ve read several quotes by Nelson Mandela in the last day or so that were garden related so of course my curiosity was piqued and I had to learn more. I simply googled Nelson Mandela garden and a page full of articles came right up.  He gardened for the same reasons that many of us do… for peace of mind, for control over what were uncontrollable situations, and perhaps for the simple joy of it. Here’s the link to a post published yesterday by the  Christian Science Monitor.

Nelson Mandela: prisoner, president…gardener?.

In the post Kurt Shillinger, former Africa Correspondent for the Boston Globe, describes his experience living in South Africa at the time of Mandela’s presidency and his association with him as a journalist and a gardener.

“Gardening is a metaphor for life, teaching you to nourish new life and weed out that which cannot succeed.” —Nelson Mandela

May you rest in peace, Mr Mandela, in the most wonderful garden of all.

Michele

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The “new normal”

I read an article in the Boston Globe Magazine today by former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky about his experience during the marathon bombings and the idea that many, if not all of us, will live at a “new normal.” He refers to a poem written by a Brazilian poet, the late Carlos Drummond de Andrade, that describes the security of normal as being “ancient.” The poem talks about the different things that one might take for granted until their gone or until one’s world is changed by something that threatens their security. It ends with the lines “They had gardens! They had mornings in those days!”

I don’t have permission to use it so I won’t publish the poem myself but you can read the  Globe article here. It met me right where I am today.

I think that we’re getting there. As I promised on Wednesday we got outside and planted away that afternoon. We turned beds over, planted spinach, peas, more lettuce, carrots, shallots and of course, radishes.

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Our new normal still has gardens. Our new normal still has mornings.

I hope more than anything that we can reclaim the  feeling of security that we took for granted for so long.

I think we will.

Thank you so much for all of your support and kind comments over the past week.

We’re going to be just fine.

Love,  Michele

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