But if it wasn’t for the love of my garden I wouldn’t be this far away in the first place. I am surrounded by a world where blue is the most predominate colour with any green represented in the form of artificial plants.
I am halfway through my wee speaky tour on a cruise ship around the coast of Australia where I get the opportunity to encourage a captive audience to pick up their spades and grow fresh food the moment they get home. It is one thing to be a writer, as this is quite a solitary occupation, send a blog out there into the internet and wondering if anyone will see it, or even writing a book but having no way of knowing if the reader is actually enjoying the fruits of your labour. But talking to and connecting with your readers is a completely different thing.
Speaking is really cool if you are passionate about what you are speaking about, which if anyone has ever read anything I have written about you will know I’m more than passionate about my garden – I’m obsessed. I think everyone should garden and I’m on a one person crusade to convince somebody – anybody to join me in the joys of growing their own food.
I do miss my garden immensely – the ability to get out there and feel the soil in my hands, in fact the ingrained soil is working its way out of my hands and my chipped and damaged nails are growing and healing and it would be difficult for me to be instantly recognisable as a gardener, as someone truly connected to the land.
So as we bob about in the ocean, all I have to give me that garden fix is to read the books I have bought with me, all of which are gardening related. So I find a quite spot and lose myself in a green world that at present can only be found between the pages of books and magazines. I found the bright colours of the magazines a little hard to read as there are teasing me with all the seasonally activities I should be doing in my garden, and reminding me of all I have to do when I get home. I miss my garden so much it is almost too much to bear.
Although I have stumbled across a lovely book: The Roots Of My Obsession. Thirty Great Gardeners Reveal Why They Garden. Edited by Thomas C Cooper. And as a fellow obsessed gardener I can recognise the passion in the way each gardener has presented their love and reasons for gardening. I can immediately see what they are trying to convey and an image of their garden grows in my head. With the gentle roar of the waves in my ears I am transported to another world were all is green and all is good.
However I’m not one to waste my life wishing it away. I know I am in a dream position to be able to share my passion while seeing some of the amazing things Australia and life on board has to offer. My garden is in good hands being cared for by the best garden guardian I could find – my mum! Life is good and I feel truly blessed.
Come again soon – I’ll be back in the garden before I know it and my hands will be returned to the wonderful state of gardener grotty.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Hi Sarah, Enjoy the reward of all your hard work. It is too cold to garden a southerly is sweeping over the country. There has been a lot of rain so the only job outside was tipping the water off the roof of my hot house then back inside.
Hi Tracy. Thank you for your lovely comments. It appears we missed the worst of the bad weather while we were away, but we can see evidence of it everywhere as our ground is decidedly boggy. I think I may need a month of Sundays for it to dry out!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Missing your garden…on a cruise ship?…you ARE addicted aren’t you! 😉 Or is Australia putting on a grey old time of it ;). You will be back amongst the greenery sooner than you think and will be wishing you were back on the cruise ship with that gorgeous bottle of red in no time 😉
Hi Fran. Not only did I miss my garden, but the ingrained dirt in my fingers worked it’s way out and my nails grew long as there was nothing to cause them to become chipped and damaged! I ended up with the hands of an Un-Gardener – all soft and lovely!
Australia was really cool as I had never been there before except to transit through Sydney. But it seems your winter is a lot like ours only a bit warmer. It was grey and raining for most of the time but we did have some lovely clear days while visiting Sydney and Newcastle. The Whitsundays was pretty amazing and our time in Brisbane has become a bit of a fuzzy memory due to excess celebrating with a much missed relative. The sea was really choppy and I ended up having to take seasick pills at one point.
It is good to be home, although there is no one to do all the cooking and cleaning and no one has been leaving chocolates on my pillow each night! But the garden is still there and it needs me and I am back where I belong.
Cheers Sarah : o )