Home. This is an interesting word, which can have different meanings for different people. I've been inspired to write about "home" by two people in the past day. Firstly Tricia Karp, with her own story about home which I stumbled across yesterday here and also by my gorgeous friend Krin, whom I have known since forever.

As I mentioned, home means different things to different people, and at different phases of the journey of life. When we are young, "home" can refer to the place where you live, a dwelling. When we are at the end of our journey, "home" is where many feel they are going as they make their transition from this world and into the next.

For me the word home, goes beyond a dwelling place. I have lived in so many places since I finished high school, that "home" has become less of a locality, and more of a feeling. I often feel I'm "home"when I'm surrounded by trees, ocean and sunshine and even when I'm surrounded by the people I love, whether they be family or friends and also when I am doing something I love. It's a feeling that washes over me in many situations and locations. It is not restricted to one place, and cannot be limited. The feeling of "home" always comes from a place of love. Whether that be self-love, love for the surroundings or love for the people I'm with at the time. It's always taken in context of the situation at hand. Today, I am feeling a sense of home as I look out toward my yard, as I see the life in the fruit trees, the blossoming Lavender, with the sun shining in my window and sparkling off my sun catcher. I am reminded that all is how it should be. By carrying my home, in my heart, wherever I go, I can never be lost, as I always follow my heart and it always leads me "home".

John McLeod, was absolutely right:
If Home is where the heart is
Then may your Home be blessed
A shelter from the storms of Life
A place of rest,
And when each day is over
And toil put in its place
Your Home's dear warmth
Will bring its smile
To light the saddest face!

So how about this crazy weather, huh? It's just gone full moon. The weather is in flux. Sun shiny and warm one minute and wintry the next. That's typical of this city, though. Yesterday, I decided it was high time to get some gardening therapy in. I took to the lawn mowing for all of 5 minutes then the sky erupted and rain began to fall. Sideways. I quickly packed up and raced inside. I decided that lawn mowing with an electric mower, in the rain, was a bad idea.

So I tried again this morning. I managed to finish the lawn this time round. I even raked the cut freshly grass from the lawn. I found both the lawn mowing and the raking of grass to be satisfying on multiple levels. The feeling of accomplishment, for having finished cutting the grass after abruptly aborting the first attempt. The repetition of mowing, and the rhythm of raking, was soothing to the chaotic early morning Taurean mind and yet appealed to the need for some release of physical energy.

While cutting away at the jungle that had grown in some areas of the yard, I discovered the Lavender plant still growing strong, despite being surrounded by tall grass. I also peeked into the overgrowing pumpkin plant and found a baby pumpkin emerging from the foliage. I will look more into the garden situation tomorrow morning, so I can remove the overgrowth and prepare to sow the winter crop, and see what treasures may have sprouted from the compost.

The vegetable stealing Italian lady from next door, also visited. She seems to have changed alot in the past few months. I get the feeling that loneliness is consuming her, since her family only visit when they need her to babysit, and very little else. She shared with me some of her home grown produce, some tomatoes and some basil, and advised me on how I could use them for dinner. She also offered me a pair of "special scissors" as she called them, so I could trim the edges of the lawn, not accessible by the mower. She obligingly ran back home to get me her special scissors. They were but the paper scissors she uses to trim the plants in her own small courtyard garden. I think I will gift her some gardening tools the next time I stop by the hardware store so it is easier for her to tend to her plants. The special scissors can't be good for her arthritis. No my arthralgia. Although I will admit to using them. Just a bit. I know she watches us from the second story window. And the front door. Despite her nosiness, and her past spate of vegie stealing her gesture was very sweet. In a way she reminds me of my own grandmother. Forever asking "why you not marry?".

Communing with nature today, has been a wonderful way to reconnect with the earth and my backyard after being away for what seems like ages. Nurture and comfort has been a mutual gift to the earth and back to me. Healing, transformative, restorative.