Oh my goodness, what a year! It started off pretty well, with distant rumors of a new strain of COVID, but otherwise full of promise and business as usual. Then everything changed. We were confronted with a world-wide pandemic, orders to shelter in place, conflicts over how that should look, unemployment for some and working from home for others, economic upheaval, shortages, extreme weather, social upheaval, and isolation. Everything went online, from church services and family gatherings, to seminars and education, to shopping and events.
For Eden by the Bay, we started off the year with the theme of Vision (to tie into the year "2020"). Our goal was to look to the past for visionary ideas that got us to where we are; live fully into the present moment with the ideas that surround us; and look to the future for great ideas to sustain close to eight billion of us on our beautiful blue planet. Turns out, the future is now.
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| Clockwise: Chinese garden at The Huntington Sky of the future Historical plant dyes Vertical farming is now |
Outings to parks and gardens were curtailed, and the yearly trip to the desert was canceled. My husband and I managed a trip to Southern California and a tour of The Huntington before lockdown, and an outing to Crystal Springs and a short trip to Mendocino when things eased up. We read a lot of books about gardens and landscapes, and traveled back in time to Father Cadfael's medieval healing garden via video. We learned about more plants used to dye fabric, and I continued to hone my movie-making skills with short videos about dyeing with plants, and going "into the landscape":
I think we're all hoping this "new normal" is only temporary, and that we can get back to living our lives. One of the best things of the last year has been seeing how people met the challenge with creativity, humor, and resiliency. I'm grateful that we have each other to face whatever lies ahead (hopefully with more empathy for others and appreciation for whatever we have)!
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