A Gift Of Inspiration: A Guest Post from the Captain

It was a routine morning for me and the family. Getting up at dawn, watching the day announce itself with a sky of glowing colors through my kitchen window, as I prepared  coffee and breakfast. Somewhere in the mix of the most perfect cloudless sky, the brisk autumn air, the birds singing, the universe was preparing a treat for me. The most magical of all earthly treats - inspiration.
The most pleasurable part of my day is walking our daughter to school with my wife. These few short blocks, through a quiet rural community, past a horse farm, monumented with astounding southern pines, live oaks, and Dogwoods all dappled with spanish moss, humbles my heart and opens my eyes everyday.

One unremarkable quiet little street that we travel each morning has become for me the epitome of the american dream. No, this street has no mansions, palatial gardens, or expensive cars. On the contrary, it is what most would consider mundane. The treasure and luxury of this tiny street is not the autumn decorations on the front doors, or the trimmed boxwood hedges, or the neatly mowed lawns. The true wealth of this neighborhood is it’s people. People who take the time to care for their yards, and decorate their houses not only for their own pleasure, but for the pleasure of their neighbors. People who take the time to smile, or stop what they are doing to say good morning as you pass. People who work and have worked hard all their lives and have prospered, not monetarily, not in status, but prospered in spirit and family. 
That morning the treat of inspiration would come to me on a chance encounter with one of these wondrous people.

 As we left our daughter at school and my wife and I began our slow stroll back home we passed a truck and workmen on the road. On the back of the truck were some wood shipping pallets. For most people there would be nothing to get excited about, but for me seeing pallets is like seeing a chest of gold, because my new passion is turning old awkward wood into furniture. These pallets were clean, and made of unusually thick cuts of solid pine, Perfect! 
I inquired about the pallets and workman told me that I could have them, they were just going to junk them.  They would be working there for a while so I would have time to walk the few blocks home and get my car. With that, my wife and I continued our walk home, me a bit happier and dreaming of what I could make with new material, and how the thick pine would feel and cut.

We turned the corner onto our favorite street and were passing the houses and neatly mown lawns. Normally there are not many people about during the day in this community, every once in a while you’ll see someone mowing, checking the mail, or sweeping the gutter. One lady we have seen more often tends to her grass and garden with pride, patience and care, and she will always wave and smile as we pass.  Her gardens have the obvious look of being cared for by a passionate and loving heart and and eye for design and balance. On this morning as we passed our neighbor and waved hello, I decided to take the time to tell her how lovely her gardens are. And this is how we began to know our neighbor Millie. Millie is tall, with a proud build, and soft short white hair. As my wife and I expressed our admiration for her garden and hard work, Millie invited us to come take a look at her back yard.  What a treat it was! 

Millie’s back yard was not only a treat for the eyes, but somehow a treat for the soul as well, it immediately made me feel happy and peaceful. There were no exotic flowers, no mass plantings, no ornate shrubbery,nor elaborate design.  The beauty of her shady garden was its inviting simplicity, which was unmistakably a labor of love. 

Millie showed us a small patio made from antique brick that she put in herself, using brick that she carted over from her neighbors yard. She used bits and chunks of cement left over from her driveway repair as a base for her garden swing and to outline her planting beds.

 Every detail was done by hand, with hard work, love and patience, and her garden truly glowed with pride. Millie’s garden was a true reflection of her, soft but rugged, comfortable but elegant and full of enthusiasm. As we continued our tour it was apparent that Millie was and avid plant lover, what we call in the gardening business a “plant nerd”. It was fascinating to hear tales of her Iris that the brought from California, and her Castor bean and Salvia plants that she grew from seed.

“Want to see a real beauty of a fern?” Millie asked us, and then proceeded to lead us across the street into her neighbors yard. There, hidden against the side of a house was lush tropical looking plant with the most unusual and magnificent red blossoms hidden beneath its leaves. She told us it was called a Pinecone Fern and we all stood and marveled at its beauty and uniqueness.

The most marvelous thing we learned about Millie and her gardens, is that she did it all in just three years, and........ she is 82 years young! So I came to understand that, just like the Pine Cone fern, tucked away in the shade, growing hidden treasures, Millie can also be described with the same words: beauty and uniqueness.

That short chance meeting left me filled with such happiness, enthusiasm, and inspiration, so that as my wife and I walked home we utterly forgot about the wood pallets. When we finally did remember, and went back for the pallets it was too late, the wood and workmen were gone. This however did not deaden my spirits in the least. I realized that the gift the universe gave me on that day was not meant to be material to create with, but rather it gave me the more rare and treasured gift - inspiration to create with.

** this post was written by my husband Peter Zukof (aka "the captain")