When I woke up Sida was already buzzing around the kitchen with her list. She stuffed me full of papaya and mango then put me to work on some chopping while she whisked off to the grocery store. The menu was a quinoa salad with corn and black beans and Sida wanted to make it perfect and so did I (My boyfriend Yohei, who English is his second language, calls me a perfectitian—It’s my new favorite made up word)...perfectionism a stand out Kenney trait for sure! Yes we are all perfectitians! (Maybe instead of working on our attachment to retaliation we needed to be working on our attachment to perfection.)
 |
| One example of a Kenney 'perfectitian' hard at work. |
We got to the Buddhist center for the lunch, and with our salad and perfect flower arrangement in tow, Sida got to work on making sure the table and everything else needed was in it’s proper place. Throughout lunch many things came up -one of which was adament begging from her buddhist friends for Sida to join them on their retreat to Brazil. Quite clearly this group not only relied on Sida for their fair share of laughs but they also genuinly looked up to and loved her. There were only about 10 of us at the lunch (which by the way ended up as delicious as any perfectitian can hope for) and as we ate, discussion and questions came up about all sorts of topics. All of which Demo-the head nun- had a perfectly calm and simplistic, yet thoughtful and wise response to. She truly was born to do what she is doing; there is a wise and gifted soul inside her innocent looking body. None of the discussion, despite the wild places it may have gone, unnerved her. Neither was her reaction to questions holier-than-thou. She had as many laughs as the rest of us did; she simply was able to respond to everything from a very different place and with a much different set of eyes.
It was quite inspiring and humbling to sit there by her.
After lunch Sida took me back to the house and soon after Gary and I took off on an adventure of our own; We were going to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. http://www.selby.org/
Whereas Sida was finding peace in retirement through her new family at the Buddhism center, Gary is made of a completely other mold. He is, after-all, a computer dude; and computer-dude’s just aren’t like the rest of us mumbling key peckers. Of course he enjoyed a fair amount of sitting back in the chair and relaxing that is a part of retirement, but he also had been putting his much needed computer skills to good use as a volunteer for Selby Gardens. When he first walked into the volunteer meeting I’m sure the organizers had no idea what luck they were about to meet, but once they realized his past they quickly asked him to help develop programs and a species database. (Now how many volunteers can just whip up a species database?)
What Gary got in return for the work he did for Selby included free entrance to these beautiful gardens. Marie Sebly was an outdoor enthusiast when she met her husband and with him she became the first woman to cross America by car. She loved camping, animals, and plants and when her husband brought her to Sarasota they quickly decided to relocate there and bought 7 acres of bayside waterfront property. Her husband’s family held enormous wealth (he himself was a multi-millionaire from oil and mining), but they opted to build a simple two story home. They remained modest and never became a part of the Sarasota social scene; they generally dressed quite plainly as their primary interests were in outdoor activities.
 |
| I love these leaves, they look like a turtle shell almost. So much texture. |
Marie especially was passionate about nature and of gardening. She was an early conservationist and wanted to keep Sarasota a beautiful green place. Later in life she became very upset as the city grew into high-rises; she even planted rows of bamboo on the bay side of the property to block her view from offensive condominiums. Marie lived in the home until her death on June 9, 1971. The contents of Marie Selby's will revealed her wish to leave her property to the community as a botanical garden "for the enjoyment of the general public."
 |
| Very smart plant. It is shaped like this so it can collect water where it will then be able to kill bugs to eat. |
As Gary and I walked around I marveled at this amazing place. With my camera endlessly snapping photos I wondered at the religion I’ve always called my own; the outdoors. Despite this place being a Florida landmark for tourism, it is so well designed that it felt as if we were wandering the gardens alone. And I felt the same kind of peace that comes when I’m wandering in the mountains, or in a lovely city park, or even out on a run that parallels the highway. There is something about just getting outside that cannot be found inside the most beautiful churches, shrines or temples in the world.
We spent a good few hours there and I think I took nearly 150 photos which I later hesitated greatly to edit down. Similar to how peaceful Sida looked while singing the Sanskrit hymn in the Buddhist center-- I saw Gary’s face in a similar state of bliss as we aimlessly wandered our way through the beauty.
 |
| Gary enjoying some peace in Sebly gardens |
Both morning and afternoon activities were wonderful --and in a way one and the same; both proved as a meaningful way to spend a beautiful Florida day.
No comments:
Post a Comment