{A fantastical garden of the mind. (A collage by Louise and me especially for From Orchards, Fields and Gardens)}
The completion of one thing and the arrival of another have made for a week coloured by general elation. A tall fence 2.1 metres high is now in place, and no huffing and puffing by party of wolves could see its demise. To me, it is a fortress-like structure of immense beauty. It is high, it has granted us great privacy, and it is straight.
Now we can have the curtains drawn back at twilight, the blinds open wide as fixings allow, and we can see the fruit bats make gloaming pilgrimage, threading their way across the sky. In fact, the house, even at tail end of winter, is flooded with welcome light all the day long, and Misha is, you’ll be pleased to know, in her element. Ten minutes after fence was complete and the spare, sinewy man who erected it gone, she popped down from safe roost and has been one quiet and domesticated puss ever since.
{Photograph taken Easter, 1979, in St Arnaud with Dixie. I am almost four years of age.}
The other ‘thing’ alluded to as a bringer of joy is the arrival of From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens: Art and rememberings celebrating sustainable agriculture and good food compiled and edited by the marvelously clever Kerstin Svendsen. It is so very exciting, so very thrilling, to hold in own hands a copy of this book which features a written piece by me and two collaborative collage works made with Louise on theme of garden green. It is a beautiful publication that also features words by David Szlasa, Gwen Shlichta, Katrina Rodabaugh, Kerstin Svendsen, Laura Olive Sackton, Mary Kathryn Wyle, Molly Sutton Kiefer, Shakirah Simley, Shari Altman and Tamara Sarina Martínez. And it features artwork made especially for it by Abby Powell Thompson, Anna Emilia Laitinen, Camilla Engman, Heather Smith Jones, Jill Bliss, Lena Sjöberg, Mati Rose McDonough, Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch, Yu-I Chan, and others.
Soon I will take photos of the actual book for you to see (and of Dear Dad too) but for now, I just want to sit and savour it and slowly read it (just as Louise is doing).
(Thanks, Shash. It is a very great book.)
