Time to prepare for exams

Last weekend I gave myself a brain break and went for a walk along my beach and went kyaking on my lake.  Had a lovely time..

Now its time to study..

I'll be back refreshed (and relieved) in a few weeks...

Use edges & value the marginal

This is the image on my calendar this month, and I just love it.. its inspirational, encouraging and beautiful.

This month, I noticed Christmas was around the corner, that the first year of the Masters degree I'm doing will be over soon, and my garden is working well, but needs a seasonal adjustment as Summer is looming in. I also noticed I'm a bit tired, and I'm looking forward to my break at Christmas.

The message on the Month is "Use the edges and value the margins", and it speaks of potential & transformational use of space. The image is from Tokyo, showing how to fit a garden into the inner city Japanese front yard. It also depicts a gift station, where one can leave gifts for the neighborhood.

This image captures many valuable and meaningful elements for me; there's a bike for commuting, trees for shape, shade and fruit, a little temple, paths and all in close proximity to the residence.

Earlier today I was listening to a podcast (chat10looks3) and Leigh and Annabel were talking about the rewards of gardening vs cooking. I smiled to myself, as theres no question for me which one wins, but Leigh was reflecting on the slow rewards of garden vs cooking, and the high failure rate in gardening. Yet still, many more women will say gardening brings them more joy than cooking.

As I've been reflecting on just how close Christmas is, and how much I need time out, and I've noticed that I've been using the edges and valuing the margins - of my time. I've been popping out to the garden in the evenings (longer days now) after work, and I've been using gardening as my study breaks, and using train time (on my long commute days) to be visit gardens I admire through Instagram and online... using every non thinking, non studying minute to research gardening and find inspiration.

How are you going in the lead up to the end of the year? Need to use your edges better?

I think I'm going to see if I can set up a gift table in my front yard for a week or two in January with some produce and plants... I'd like to do that.