Immersion

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to write a novel set in the seventeenth century. I wrote one scene and with each word I found that I needed to learn more. So I borrowed a couple of books from the library and then discovered that I was fascinated to learn about what had gone before, in the previous century. So I took out a few more books and some fictional novels of the Tudor and Stuart period. Then I ordered all the series of The Tudors and now there seems to be no limit to the books I want to read and films to watch.

For a long time I have not been able to settle to anything and now suddenly I find myself happily immersed in Tudor and Stuart England. It feels a bit like time-travelling crossed with obsession. It makes me want to return to University and start all over again.

My husband often talks about an inspirational welcome lecture he attended on his first day at Bournemouth University. The lecturer told the new students that University was all about reading and here was a once in a lifetime opportunity, three whole years devoted purely to reading for your degree. How I wish I had my three years over again I wouldn`t bother reading dry old law reports!

This love of reading often brings to mind a colleague from my office who reads as he's walking to and from work. I used to think that was crazy, that he must be desperate for reading time to risk getting run over by a bus because he has his nose in a book. But I'm really starting to feel the same way. There just aren't enough hours in the day to read and absorb everything that I want to learn.

I feel as if I am embarking on an unofficial University course of my own in which I choose the topics and the reading material and decide what essays to write. Part of me is insisting that I can't possible study without learned lecturers and tutors, and so imagine my relief when I visited the website of Alison Weir (a popular and prolific writer of historical non-fiction) and discovered that she hasn't attended a single history course in her life, instead she followed her enthusiasm.

I am in the first flush of enthusiasm myself and realise it`s early days yet but I can`t help but think even if I spent the rest of my life reading about this period of history it wouldn`t be any hardship. Lets hope the gremlins don`t try and distract me with oughts and shoulds. Immersion should be about the joy of diving in, not the fear of drowning!

Musing on Roses

Patricia has been busy in her garden and so have our neighbours in beautiful James Bay. Everywhere flowers are in early bloom and the scent of honeysuckle and roses is divine. On my walk to and from work this week I have been taking time to stop and smell the roses, literally and metaphorically.

I read the Steve Job`s speech recommended by Patricia and also found it inspiring, although the section about living each day as if it`s the last, sent me into a small panic. As those close to me already know, I dread every day of my present job and the endeavour to find a more fulfilling vocation is proving challenging . However there was a silver lining this week when a colleague brought in roses from her garden and now a vase full of flouncy orange blooms is filling the office reception with an intoxicating scent.

Roses have been an abiding theme of late. A couple of weeks ago a friend from England, Sue, sent me a book in memory of my Mum, who was also a lover of gardens and roses. The book is titled For Love of a Rose and it tells the story of the French/Italian family who were responsible for the cultivation of a rose with shades of ivory, gold and pink. In the days before the 2nd world war they parcelled up their newly budded rose and sent it to growers in Italy, Germany and America. It wasn`t until the war was over that they discovered that not only had all of the rose bushes arrived and survived but also they had created a prizewinner. That rose was called the Peace rose. After 6 years of violence and destruction the people of the world were ready for a universal symbol of love and peace, and the Peace rose became the most popular rose of all time. Within nine years of the end of war, over thirty million Peace roses bushes were flowering all over the world.

I wonder if the Peace rose made it`s way to Victoria, Canada. Perhaps there is a Peace rose still flowering in James Bay? I decide there is no better way to spend a summer evening than in search of an elusive rose.


"The hours when the soul is absorbed by beauty are the only hours when we truly live." Richard Jefferies - An English Naturalist

Seeds Planted

A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me an e-mail with a link to a commencement speech for Stanford University graduates. The presenter is Steve Jobs, a founder of Apple. Snippets of his words have floated through my days since then. In conversations with friends, in discussions with people wondering what they are going to do with their lives, and as I am planting my garden.

Gardens hold strong metaphors. As I watch the tiny birds land on the earth, I wonder how many of those seeds I had covered were actually being transported to another place. The fact is we don't know where the plants will grow, with birds involvement or not. We try to create the best space for it all to happen. This year, I spent a long time getting the earth ready, more than the time it took to plant. But that is the best investment.

And so now, I think of Steve Jobs, how he has planted seeds in his words.

Many people I mentioned this to had already read or saw the video of the commencement. It was presented in 2005. Four years later, it still calls out to people.

Here it is: Steve Jobs' Commencement Address.