This Perfectly Imperfect Life

On this Throwback Thursday, I'm taking you back to late February, 2012, in Charleston, SC, where I fell in love with Camellia's for the first time... To further travel along that path with me, click here . 

(That photo of me was taken the day after we got back home here to the coast. Traveling kicks my arse!)

The post below is from my Adventures In Gardening column archives and originally appeared elsewhere on January 19, 2013. While it has a gardening theme, it is also about falling in love for the first time, although in a perhaps unconventional sense, and it seems fitting to revisit it with Valentines Day arriving a week from today. It is also one of my favorite posts that I have ever written! I've had a follow-up of sorts in the works, which covers my first brief visit to Charleston in 2012 overall. My longing to return to Charleston arrives every February and March now. One day I will get there. Until then I have my memories and my Camellias. Adventures In Gardening: Love Struck! Filed under  #GARDENWALK ,  ADVENTURES IN GARDENING As gardeners, we fall in love over and over again.  Every time we flip through a catalog, make a trip to the nursery, or take a walk in a new garden.  Often, many of these new loves get pushed out of our minds and onto the “...

Louisa May Alcott. Beloved author who created Jo March, my all time favorite character of any book I've ever read, who inspired me to become a writer at the age of 11. I often find myself seeking Louisa out.  Trying to find Louisa.  I'm not entirely sure what that means myself, it's a feeling I can't quite explain, that comes and goes throughout the year, but especially as the seasons change or when I am struggling with my own writing. Recently I began trying to explore this feeling (via writing, privately). I was so excited and overcome the first (and only) time I visited Orchard House, her most famous home, I was on the verge of tears from the moment we pulled up until well after leaving the house and later the cemetery where she is buried. Because I first visited Autumn (of 2008), I find myself wanting to make another pilgrimage north to the stunning Autumn of Concord, MA to visit her again each Autumn. Not possible in the literal sense, unfortunately, so I wil...

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La Peppermint Ancient Camellia japonica Happy Valentines one and all! Have you ever been bowled over by something and couldn't get it out of your mind? I hope you'll join me over at Connect*Share*Grow for a special Valentines Day edition of my gardening memoir column, Adventures In Gardening, where I share how my love affair with Camellias began in South Carolina last year. Click here !

Next to the 7 Gables, the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The House of the Seven Gables. Fascinating and beautiful! The history of the house is very interesting what with all the many changes to the structure of the house as time passed and the location on the water is amazing! (I cannot imaginw how cold it must be in the Winter!)

Louisa May Alcott. I'm not sure how peaceful it is for the author's in Author's Ridge, what with all the people coming to see their graves & get pencil/charcol rubbings of their headstones but it was nice to see the flowers, pine cones & what nots left to them as a thank you and respect.

A beautiful, beautiful place.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and family.

Author's Ridge section

I've got to catch up on Thurs & Fri, but here's where we were at one point along the Nashua River Rail Trail that goes from Ayers MA into Nashua, New Hampshire. A beautiful & LONG ride via bike - 13 miles there and 13 miles back equals 26 miles! Yup you heard me right! We biked 26 scenic autumn foliage galored miles! I nearly ended up in the swamp because some jerk swerved at me on purpose.  I was headed down hill a bit so to avoid ending up in the water, I dumped the bike and fell.  I was fine, but I may never walk again. 26 miles. And I literally cleaned my plate of appetizer, entree and dessert for dinner which took us all of 15 minutes to drive to in NH! Hubby told me all Marines have a second birthday, the Marine Corps birthday and because I did this, he told me I could have this day as my second birthday.

I immediately fell into awe when I caught sight of Louisa May Alcott's home as we pulled up to it! I think I started holding my breath as I took these pics! I was walking the very foot paths Louisa and her family did each day so long ago! So I wouldn't have to wait a 1/2 hour until another tour started, the ladies were nice enough to bring me to one that had already started. (The lovely woman who was the tour guide brought me to the 3 rooms I missed at the beginning once the tour was done & right before another started!) My heart was pounding in my chest and tears kept threatening to well up in my eyes as I listened to the history of the home and the Alcott's. I wish I could've been alone in Louisa's room for a few moments so I could try to picture her there, writing away at her desk's, day and night. What a wonderful, warm & creative home with Louisa & her writing and May & her art! (Though I don't get as much of a warm feelin...

The Concord School of Philosophy @ Orchard House, Concord MA.

Concord, MA.