Creating Eden

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty…”
Genesis


From formless emptiness long ago, the landscape on a barren planet was sculpted from land that rose above the waters.
Once the conditions were right to support life, God planted a garden. It was lush and peaceful. He filled it full of living creatures. Once this garden was ready, God created mankind. So believe the followers of Abrahamic religions.
Creating this first garden is how the Almighty acted as the first gardener. We need no formal training to follow His lead in creating our personal Eden. We need only look to His good example. In His wisdom, He planted gifts for all our senses in the garden. To promote healthy body, mind and soul, all the senses need nourishment.
There is no more delightful awakening than to the cheerful serenade of birds. A tiny pond motor will force still waters to gurgle in a pot or fountain- a natural audible tone that calls thirsty birds to sip. But water alone is not enough. Fill a hanging feeder with black Nyjer seeds: then listen for the soft staccato of finches. A larger feeder set on a firm post platform filled with a songbirds mix attracts even more birds that prefer solid footing to be coaxed into singing for their snacks.
Try choosing a plant as you do perfume. Drop by your favorite garden center. Stand in front of any display. Lean in with your eyes closed. Inhale. Select a jasmine, rose or lavender based upon how the scent makes you feel. Take your selection home. When the plant is in your garden, touch the blossoms and wear their scent on your fingertips.
The Internet has opened the world of horticulture discovery. Go on the Internet to look up Greenwood Daylily Gardens at http://greenwoodgarden.com/. The owner, John Schoustra, is passionate about providing plants that thrive in our Southern California climate.
He is introducing a line of no-fuss lilacs requiring so little chill that they bloom with abandon, even along the coast. The white blooming ‘Snowy’ Beach Party ™ lilac is now on the market and available through Greenwood Daylily Gardens.
May is peak season at their growing grounds in Somis, near Thousand Oaks. It is worth finding driving directions on their website to see a horticulture business operating in its native habitat.
The grounds are only open to the public briefly, from 9:30am -4:00pm on Saturdays, now through June. Some plants, including tables loaded with scented geraniums, are available only if you visit.


The first 4 photographs are by Gene Sasse and used with permission and gratitude.

Open Lots of Books and Lots of Bottles

How did Elizabeth Schweitzer get to be one of only 8 women master wine sommeliers in the world? "I open a lot of books and a lot of bottles."
The Diamond Bar Friends of the Library holds an annual charity wine tasting for the local branch of the Los Angeles County Library. If you don’t know Diamond Bar, this is a small city in Los Angeles County where the citizens take on the political process with gusto. Things can get so heated around here, that in a former life as a planning commissioner, a bystander asked if I wore a flak jacket to the legislative meetings. What is wonderful about this annual wine tasting is that by breaking bread and discovering new wines together, wounds are healed and friendships forged.
Right before the event, the volunteers are treated to a class (with lots of delicious samples courtesy of the major sponsor of the event The New World International Wine Competition) at Dacor, the high end kitchen appliance manufacturer whose impressive showroom is just around the corner from City Hall.
Dacor is one of the fine companies rewarded for actualizing its company value statement.



Elizabeth Schweitzer led this year’s class. Her enthusiasm for wine spills over. With joie de vivre, the former chanteuse recommended we should all slow down to really enjoy wine. See it. Smell it. Taste it.
Hold the glass up to the light. See the color. There are as many colors of white wine as there are shades of blond. Notice the clarity.
To appreciate the full character of the wine, she recommended taking "little puppy breaths" to catch the initial scent before the first taste. Then swirl the wine around in the glass like you see the host at restaurants do when they want to impress their guests. Draw in a deep breath. Taste again. Compare the first impression to the second. The two sips will not be the same. You will have experienced the range of taste in a single glass.
Notice how the wine feels in the mouth. Some wines are light and thin. Some boast a fuller, heavier texture.
All of these little rituals will cause you to really think about what food will go with the particular wine.
A lot of people spend an extraordinary amount of time throughout the year to make the event special. These are just a few. Tony Torng works with local restaurants to make sure there is plenty of food to sample between sips. Nancy Lyons gathers up items to auction. Rick Rodgers is in charge of marketing.

Robert Block is in charge of finding and training the wine pourers. He makes sure that the pourers have Rick Rodger’s fine notes about wine and serving and arranges for a new class each year so that we are helpful to the event’s patrons. He does his best to assign us to wines we like on the most convenient shift for our schedule.
There are others who deserve acknowledgement, but we will save that for later, so they can be properly thanked.
Equipped with a little knowledge from the class, I enjoyed this year’s tasting more than ever.
Here are my notes from the event, which I shared with a friend right after the event.

Knapp Fingerlakes Chardonnay. New York. A nicely sippable wine that would be great conversation starter served with white cheeses spread on light, crisp crackers.
Stephen and Walker had a nice 2003 Pinot Noir. Dry. Just warm enough on the back of the throat to leave a nice "goodbye". Would serve with lighter Italian fare. Maybe a spaghetti with fresh sauce or spinach-ricotta dumplings with sage in a light sauce with shaved Parmesan like at Cafe` Firenze in Moorpark. Bedria at the deli at the Aljibani Halal Market in Diamond Bar, makes an Egyptian lasagna on Fridays- white sauce with no cheese, very lean ground beef- much lighter than most Italian versions- which would also be a wonderful pairing.


And White Springs Springhouse White. New York Proprietary. A lightly sweet wine that would be absolutely gorgeous served with peaches on the patio in summertime. The patrons were lined up for this one until there was no more.
Funniest moment of the night was when I couldn't get opener to work on cork. Probably because it was a screw cap.
But the best was last. I had taken a left-over bottle of South Dakota's finest next-door for Chuck and Sandra to try. Walking home, Lorraine from across the street is bringing me cupcakes- so she and her husband got the rest of the bottle. I suspect there are not many neighborhoods where the residents are running door to door with samplings of food and wine just because. This is one GREAT place to live.

For more information on classes taught by Elizabeth Schweitzer, please write to her at elizwine@hotmail.com. But beware, be prepared to be delighted, enlightened and entertained.

Copywrite 2008 Lydia Plunk

Anticipation for Oprah's Rose

Anticipation: that glorious divine suffering of having to wait for what you want.
Carly Simon wrote about it:
“We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway”
Oprah’s Legends™ Rose won’t be available on the market until the Spring ’09 growing season, but writing about it for Gene Sasse's new Southern California gardening website found at http://2garden.com/ left me with a yearning for the Rose that graces the cover of the current “O” Magazine.
Like Oprah herself, the rose itself does not stand that tall. Yet its presence cannot be missed. Whopping valentine red blossoms open in a swirl that make one’s imagination hear the classic Spanish guitar chords of La Malaguena building to a crescendo nearby.
Please drop by http://www.2garden.com/LegendsRose.htm and let Gene's genius with a camera lens transport you to the romance of a sun-drenched garden. Read to learn how a gift intended for a friend turned into next year’s most anticipated rose introduction.



Photographs on this page are courtesy of Gene Sasse.

Words Have Power

I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time. -Jack London
These words, written by a man who died in 1916, printed over a sepia picture on the flat face of a postcard bought at the gift shop at Huntington Library, were life-changing.
Our Creator did not put us here to see how long we could sit and watch the world go by. We were not put here with a warranty tag guaranteed to last a certain length of time if we just followed some maintenance program. In these words I found revelation that it is our duty to act upon our dreams.
I am not advising recklessness. I am reflecting that we were created by the Almighty to meet our purpose with the four I’s- intent, intensity, intelligence, and integrity.
The picture above- I am the ankle barely seen above the raft on the right side. Someone else is going overboard on the left side. My friend, Becky, is the one with the horrified expression on her face.
Going overboard turned out to be my professional "baptism". I arrived in Montana an editor. Having made this day trip straight from Bible Study, as we approached the rapids we were inspired to chant, "Yeah though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil."
On the first bounce, the underloaded raft bent in the middle, becoming shaped like a taco. On the second bounce, it was a back flip into the churning white waters.
There was no fear. It was shoved out by shear exhilaration. And the absolute conviction that I was meant to be a writer.

The Last Request of Gerry Del Rio Cortes

“ … even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. “ wrote the Greek tragedian Aeschylus.

“It’s almost that time” was the title of a joint e-mail sent by Bridget & Gerry Del Rio Cortes on Saturday, April 12th. On the afternoon of Sunday, April 13th, Gerry left this life, leaving his wife, their families and friends to cope with the loss of someone so good and so young.

Gerry was 44 when he entered the kingdom of heaven. He and his wife, if this life were fair, should have spent the last two years looking to raise a family. But Gerry was stricken with cancer. So they looked for hospitals instead.

I met the couple when we were all volunteers for the Diamond Bar Relay for Life. Bridget put her heart and soul into the event and the organization. To anyone who would listen, she spoke glowingly of the American Cancer Society (ACS) and all they did to help them live despite Gerry’s grave illness. When a position came open, ACS gladly hired Bridget.

In this last letter, Bridget and Gerry wrote together they acknowledged the tragedy that had overtaken them. And while they still hoped for a miracle to spend more time together in this life, in their request for prayers they asked not for healing, but for relief of pain. For his body and for her heart.

In this letter the couple made a joint statement that I believe they would both want shared. This is the last request they made together as husband and wife.

“Lastly, we would like to ask a favor of you. Please take some time out of your life to battle cancer by participating in a Relay For Life event either in your city or ours. It is one day out of your life to fight back against cancer. Visit http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/ to find one near you. All of the funds raised go to the American Cancer Society to help with their research, education, advocacy, and service. Gerry and I have used their FREE services these last two years ranging from talking to a live trained person who gave us information at 2:00 am to getting 4 nights free in a hotel in San Francisco during his chemo treatments. So can other cancer patients and their families. To find out more call 1(800) ACS-2345 or go to http//www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp"

For anyone interested in helping the Diamond Bar Relay for Life, this event has a specific site at
http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeCaliforniaDivision?fr_id=4314&pg=entry.

Until we meet again, rest in peace, dear Gerry.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Fan

True Love is Forever

Do you remember the first time you fell in love? I remember when I did. I was five years old and carrying an Easter basket. Our parents took their trio of daughters to Descanso Gardens in La Canada- Flintridge. http://www.descansogardens.org/site/
It was love at first sight of clivia clumps blooming underneath camellias just the right height for a little girl to think they were blooming trees. Birds sang as the danced together in dappled shade of big oak trees. True love does last forever. To this day I breathe in lilac and remember how intoxicating the exhilaration of first love feels.
I was too young to understand the impact of that brief brush with love. But, as is true in all true love, even though the dalliance was short, my life was forever impacted.
Love is patient. Twenty-nine years after I first fell in love, I was able to do something about my feelings. I said “I do” to my garden here.
In the years that have passed, with every plant born, tended- and yes, with those that have been laid to rest, the garden has taught me that love grows in ways I could not imagine in my youth.
Are my memories all accurate? Probably not. But that is not important. What is important that once touched by love, we are forever changed. And better off for it.

Tending Skin is Like Tending Soil

Tending to our skin is very much like tending to the soil. Skin is like soil to appearance. Flowers are the garden's cosmetics. If the soil (skin) isn't good- the flowers (cosmetics) won't make the face bloom.
Women speak of yearning to spend more time in the garden. But many are afraid of damaging their skin.
I can relate. There is nothing unusual in my spending 2 to 6 hours a day under the bright California sky.

But I don’t want to have skin that resembles my husband’s jerky.
I wouldn't dream of giving up either my time outside or the desire not to look like the day-laborer that I enjoy being. And if I can do this successfully, so can you.
You see,I have “difficult” skin. To the causal observer, the texture is good. However, the natural moisture level is dangerously close to the sands of the Mojave Desert. When I was just in second grade, a doctor recommended the tubs of Nivea Creme. My skin is also extremely sensitive. Allergy pills and a tube of cortisone cream are tucked in my purse.
Not long ago, my desire to be outside had gotten ahead of the supply of moisturizers. I was on a mission to the Brea Mall to replenish stock with "the usual". As I scurried past the Swisa Beauty Kiosk, Raviv, who represents the Dead Sea Premier skin care line, had to notice the dry patches on my face. He was kind about it. But he was going to help. The demonstration began.
Raviv explained the history of Dead Sea, where the product line comes from, as he gently coaxed open the pores. Odd particulates were freed, replaced by with nutrients and moisture.
Hovering nearby was Bill. A regular customer with clear, tightly textured skin better than that of many a man half his 73 years; he is a living testimonial that it can pay to take are of your skin.
In Living a Beautiful Life Alexandra Stoddard offered the advice that “Enormous enjoyment can be gained from turning a necessity into a sensuous act.” On the surface, what Raviv was demonstrating was mundane. However, his recounting of the history and geography of the Dead Sea opened the imagination. The scent of the scrubs and lotions so fresh, it cleared the mind. The day's chores were wiped clean and everything that touched my skin felt softer. The quality of the experience was elevated from routine to ritual.

More information can be found about this skin care line by going to http://www.swisabeauty.com