A small grocery store (of the variety you see in New York City neighborhoods, or in Paris for that matter) is six blocks from our house and it has a full complement of the foods we buy. It drew us out this morning, on the hunt for shallots, garlic, onions and green beans. Despite the nippy 30F morning air, we saw these roses, tinged with frost, which have lost all sense of season. I’ve written about roses blooming midwinter here, but they keep astounding me. I remain amazed and gratified.
Then, of course, on the whimsy side…a little plastic swan.
Daily walking, eyes open. So good for body and soul. I hope I keep getting to do this for a long long time.
I have been trying, since winter closed in around me, to find the beauty in this grayer season. But yesterday and today, I’m pulling up images of warmer more colorful places and times.
A three-week trip to Europe last year taught me to plan for travel fatigue
Palm House, Royal Botanical GardensWashington DC, botanic garden walkway with wisteriaConservatory and Botanic Garden, Geneva
It was pretty simple, really. Stepping out into lush park or garden surroundings works at home to both sooth and energize. And it turned out to be a good antidote for the exhaustion that goes hand in hand with managing an itinerary and figuring out how to get where we’re going in a new environment.
During our five days in London, we slipped off to the Royal Botanical Gardens, also known as the Kew Gardens (because they’re located in the village of Kew) when we needed down time. Of course at 330 acres and many specialized exhibits, Kew could exhaust a person who wanted to see it all. We chose to devote most of our time to the stunning Palm House and the treetop walkway.
And in Geneva, Switzerland, the last stop on that Europe trip, we found the city’s Conservatory and Botanic Garden calming yet also exciting. Like Kew, it was home to plants we’d never seen before.
During a later trip to Washington DC we found our way, after a day of admiring the capital’s many memorials and musems, to United States Botanic Garden, and it became a quiet oasis after a busy day.
Having just returned from a fine but tiring trip to Canada (in January, it’s all gray tones), I found myself browsing snapshots of these gardens from past travels, drinking in the visual richness and remembering how magical those gardens were.
I imagine there are many ways to ease travel burnout: down time in a coffee shop, or a library, or by a pool. The key is remembering that travel will be exhausting and being prepared for it.
Those lush conservatories with their rainforest plants, even just in photos and memories are doing it for me today.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 