Nancy Forrester and the Secret Garden

On Saturday, March 31, 2012, lovers and supporters of Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden gathered to celebrate the forty-two years she maintained the garden and spiritedly called forth an amazing future for this Key West treasure.

According to Mandy Miles, writer for Key West newspaper, The Citizen:

She retains ownership of the attached property at 518 Elizabeth St. that abuts the garden acreage, and has moved the parrots and orchids there, where she will continue to invite visitors to explore the educational displays she will install on that property.

"I've always had the two entrances, but since I'm no longer able to use Free School Lane, I'll be using 518 Elizabeth," she said. "And since I no longer have a rainforest garden, I'll be offering more educational displays about the orchids and parrots."

She optimistically called the change a "metamorphosis" and a "resurgence of creative energy."

For those who mourn the change, trust Nancy's optimism, and continue supporting  its new identity.

All the best to you Nancy, and the sacred garden. Your love's labour's not lost.



Hibiscus Couture du jour



Hibiscus Couture du jour

 

The image that inspired JakSin, tattoo artist and proprietor at

Kreepy Tiki Tattoo Studio in Fort Lauderdale.

JakSin and I greeted one another and he took me through a tour of Kreepy Tiki, which all together includes tattoo studio, boutique and a fabulous lounge replete with blowfish lamp lighting and retro-tiki-chic decor.

We began to chat about my reason for being there.

I knew what I wanted, in the broad aspect, but hadn't narrowed any choices. I'd told Monica on our journey up the Keys, "It's going to be a collaboration".   [It had only been one year since I'd begun thinking about it]

I suggested to JakSin that we take a look at some of my work. We pulled up this blog for a look-see. The image grabbed JakSin immediately, and that was it, my decision was made. 

My upper left arm bears the mark of that day, and is healing nicely. The molting process is nearly complete. Photograph to follow.

[Text posted on 3/28/2012. There is a story that will emerge later, events leading to the tattoo (over the span of one year) and the meet with JakSin and the other artists and staff at Kreepy Tiki and will be told in concert with Monica Dahl.

Hidden Treasure - stictocardia beraviensis, Hawaiian Sunset Vine

allow your eye to wander slowly, stalkingly through the garden...

amazing, the things that unfold there

Hibiscus Couture du jour

Ode to Deacon Fuller

I realize it was because of you I went out and bought that Fender Strat -- black it was and Standard American made it was, with a sweet neck and yummy action. (It was the one that got away.)

Color and the Tree of Life -- Dr. Monica G. Dahl, guest contributor

Lignum Vitae

Images of michele’s exquisite eye for beauty capture my favorite form of art, realism. From her show at Cocco and Salem, I became enraptured first with her eye on the monstera deliciosa. Then the clitoria. After meditating on this brilliant color spectrum of a blessed holy tree, what captured my imagination as a therapist was the mythology of the trinity of the lignum vitae; flower / green pod / fresh seed, the cycle of birth / growth / death / rebirth. Maiden / mother / crone, all in one image of a holy tree. Lignum vitae, tree of life, who is reported to have healing qualities for those who approach the tree at chest height, and rest themselves in this crook of the tree. The tree is said to diffuse all negativity. The use of its heavy wood during WWII reduced its wild population. Sprouting takes scarification of the shell. (like the rest of us)

I imaged the lignum vitae print framed in different colors to draw out the different aspects of the internal image which has a realism of its own that cannot be refuted by argument, logic or debate. The background is the context within which the foreground is embedded. What is foreground? What is background? What is relevant, what is irrelevant? For an individual to have a strong sense of self, meaning and value, the essential cannot be left in the non-essential category/marginalized and the non-essential cannot be centralized. The lignum vitae image was a fine gestalt to play with as a teaching tool in how the frame of reference we give to the emergent realism of living allows us to form mood, ideas, and inevitably behavior. I spent an hour with the framer looking at the different aspects, selecting the green frame in the center as my first reframe.

Once the reframe was hanging beside the original image in contrast with its simple black frame and white matting, two more quickly joined it to become a visual teaching tale in the office. Each of the frames draw the eye to different aspects of this same image. Frame, reframe, reframe again. Different emergent impressions and the options continued to unfold, opportunities/possibilities. This is also how I do therapy. We have a common impression, a shared realism. It is framed in black and white. The facts, just the facts ma'am. Then there is the meaning, the emotional load that we give to the world, or that the world teaches us. Each reframe stretches the imagination to see more specifically or broadly, chunking down into a more detailed data awareness or chunking up into a more connected/holistic data awareness.

"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." (Aldous Huxley)

In changing human mood/thought/behavior, we begin with a change of awareness. Mindfulness to self and relational activities results in previously unobserved or ignored feelings/thoughts/behaviors becoming self apparent. This insight orientation ideally unfolds with spontaneous change of decision, or multiple decisions, and then there is a corresponding change of behavior because the eye is seeing clearly, the ear is hearing more accurately, the feelings have been harnessed for positive outcomes, self defined objectives, the aim of the mind can be more concisely targeted, the behavior can achieve the desired outcomes. This is achieved by clear perception and awareness of choices/options/decisions and desired outcomes. That which is perceived is achieved.

The pleasure of observing Michele stalk the yard leads to my own yearning to capture images of her engaged in her work. She has gifted me with a camera, and I must now extend my learning, growth, development and understanding into a digital world.

Clitoria Ternatea

Monstera Deliciosa





©text by Dr. Monica Geers Dahl, 2012, photographs by Michele R. Strub, 2010-2012

Newest Monstera Deliciosa

Ruth Bernhard, photographer

"The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations -- each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony." --Ruth Bernhard

check out Women in Photography International

Jane Worth and Monica Dahl

Two of my favorite people in Key West, at the Annie Dillard exhibition, The Gallery on Greene, Key West

Annie Dillard and gathering at The Gallery on Greene, Key West

 

 

 

 

in Molly's Garden

Sunrise, Wednesday morning -- from White Street Pier

from my corner of the world

Juliet and Romeo

a lot of what I know about stalking images I learned from these two in the yarden on Seidenberg --

new work

view from the patio at Pepe's on Caroline Street

Alfred, 'splaining things

...while mother Molly the Unsinkable and I listen

Anonymous Garden