My Self-Care Garden

Hardy Hibiscus

"Self-Care" seems to be a relatively new concept. When I was a young adult, there was no talk of "self-care," at least not that I remember. 

The stress of today's world, though seems to have brought the idea of carving out time to care for yourself to the forefront of many people's minds. We need time to retreat from the crazy, over-stimulated world and simply breathe. To reset. 

Self-care can be anything where you are creating space for you. It could be extravagant like a spa day or it could be simple and cheap like making sure you work-out, meditate, or just curl up with a good book.  

For me, going outside and working in my garden is part of my self-care ritual. I love nothing more than to get my hands in the dirt and remove weeds from the soil. To commune with my flowers, trees, and shrubs. To breathe in the oxygen that they release and to give them my breath in exchange. To be surprised when a big fat nightcrawler wiggles up to the surface. And to be momentarily terrified when a wolf spider the size of my thumb appears in front of me. (When that happens, I usually surrender that part of my garden to the spider and work in a different spot.)

Double Begonia

It is hard, sweaty, filthy, work and yet as I'm crouching in the dirt, taking care of all my flowers, I feel them taking care of me. I give my time and sore muscles, but I receive so much more. Not only do I receive a sense of peace and oneness with a greater world outside myself, but they give me their beauty all summer long. I'm grateful for the time I'm able to spend in my garden and I'm grateful every day I gaze out my window and see my flowers smiling back at me. 

Today, on this cloudy day in Cleveland, I thought I would share their beauty with you.

Let me know which one you like the best!!

I'd love to hear what you do to make space for yourself and what you're grateful for today!!

Mandevilla

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathy

Clematis

Siberian Iris

Platycodon-Balloon Flower

Tiger Lily

Bleeding Heart

Rose of Sharon

G is for Gardens!

Cleveland is Cooler Than You Think!
All over the media, in tv and movies, Cleveland gets made fun of. In this year's A-Z Challenge, I'm here to show you everything Cleveland has to offer!


G is for Gardens!
Cleveland Cultural Gardens

Hungarian Cultural Garden (photo: Wikipedia)

John D. Rockefeller, a resident of Cleveland, gave 254 acres of land to the city in 1896, "to create a memorial area for the diverse ethnic groups that shaped the region, and to be a space of reflection about peace cooperation and mutual understanding."- Cleveland Cultural Gardens website.

The first garden, The Shakespeare Garden, now the British garden, was dedicated in 1916. Leo Weidenthal, a journalist and Shakespeare lover, was instrumental in creating this first garden and dreamed of using this large stretch of city land to pay homage to all the immigrant communities that were settling in Cleveland. Throughout the years many more gardens were added. Today, there are 29 distinct cultural gardens with 6 more in the works. With 120 distinct ethnic groups currently residing in the Cleveland area there is still much more that could be done.

There is no other garden in the world like this one. Statues and busts of people representing each culture ranging from Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Confucius, to famous scientists like Tesla and Copernicus, to composers like Bach and Beethoven all reside within the same 2 mile stretch of lush gardens.

Each year in August, the garden sponsors One World Day, bringing together all nationalities in a celebration of "Peace through Mutual Understanding."  There is a parade of flags, cultural performances, entertainment and lots of ethnic foods.  Being the 100th anniversary of the first garden, this year will have a multitude of special performances and ceremonies.


Resources:

http://www.clevelandculturalgardens.org/gardens/syrian-garden/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Cultural_Gardens
http://www.culturalgardens.org



Doggy Style (It's really not what you think!)

My three kids have taken up the habit of naming all the different positions our beagle Rory gets himself into.  Most of the time even I can't quite figure out why they chose the names they did but I thought it might put a smile on everyone's face to share in this silliness!


G is for Gorphlax!

This is an extremely rare alien-like pose, we were lucky to catch it on film as it is only sighted once in a blue moon!

How is the challenge going so far for you?  Have you found any new blogs that you really like?  Tomorrow, I'll be highlighting some of my favorites that I've found so far.  Don't forget to visit everyone else on the list! I realized I have to visit about 88 blogs a day to get to everyone. Yikes! I don't think that will happen, but I will try.

We got snow here last night, and I thought it was supposed to be spring! Hope everyone had a great week.  Here's to the weekend and one day off! 

Kathy :)