The co-hosts for the February 6 posting of the IWSG are Raimey Gallant,Natalie Aguirre,CV Grehan, and Michelle Wallace!
Thanks for hosting, everyone.
The Question of the Month: Besides writing what other creative outlets do you have?
Does hiking or gardening count as creative? Well, maybe gardening. Here’s a pictorial answer to the question. A BEFORE and AFTER garden visit.
Way Before 
Before 
And now the Afters 
First Pond 
First Crop 
First Arbor
The first two pictures are my garden before I started. A house had occupied the space, but it had burned down several years before. I kept looking at this sunny spot until I couldn’t stand leaving it the way it was. About a year later, it had two ponds, flowers, and a vegetable patch. I guess the endeavor falls under creative. It also falls under the category called a-lot-of-work.
This month I’m featuring Michelle Wallace on my Email Connect. The lead article is How To Become An Overnight Success. And there’s a Valentine’s Day Treat. I’m warming to this way of connecting with followers.
Join the February WEP. The theme is 29 Days! It will be so interesting to read how many different takes writers will have on this one.
Quotes of the Month: “To be creative means to be in love with life.” ~ Osho. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein. (I liked these both, so I couldn’t choose just one.)
I think gardening counts- especially a garden as well managed and planned as yours.
That garden looks fantastic. That’s a big transformation. That IS very creative. 🙂
Love the photos of your garden 🙂
Ronel visiting for Feb’s IWSG Day Being an Insecure Writer — And Happy About It
Thanks for the visit. Glad you enjoyed the pictures.
This looks amazing!
http://www.ficklemillennial.blogspot.com
Gardening is definitely a good passion to have. Thank you for sharing!
http://www.ficklemillennial.blogspot.com
Well, it keeps me busy, that’s for sure.
Heck yeah, gardening counts! I garden in the yard with my kids so much that we call it our little farm:)
I love to have kids with me in the garden. Best place to learn about life and good food.
Gardening is definitely a creative outlet. It’s a lot of work, though. But it can help get your mind off of other things.
It kind of clears all the mess that’s usually stirring around in my head.
That’s so impressive, Lee. Gardening is an immense amount of work. I love it too, until it gets near the end of the season and I’m so darn tired of weeding I pretty much give up.
While I have enough of a green thumb to make things grow (including weeds), I don’t have the gift of knowing how to turn my space into one of those Better Homes & Gardens extravaganzas. I’m thinking that’s probably a gift you’re either born with or not.
I’m usually weary of all the work by September, too. I guess that’s why we have those lovely seasonal changes, to give us a break from one routine and start fresh with another.
You wouldn’t call it lovely if you were in Winnipeg this winter. 😉
Great work on the gardens! I think that working with your hands—including gardening, building things, even digging ditches—is a good way to get the brain working, and working in different and useful ways. I miss my garden. And it seems like it’s working to get your writing going, too!
I kind of like digging. It certainly is a workout and when I’m done I have something to show for it–nice dark earth ready for seeds.
Your garden is beautiful! Would definitely count that as a creative endeavor…
Thanks, Heather.
A garden definitely counts for creativity! Certainly, a beautiful garden like the one you’ve created counts as double points.
I like the challenge each year. It’s never the same and always a surprise.
Great gardening! It looks like a place of much joy and peace.
Yes. It’s quiet and if I do get to sit down and just look at it, I find a lot of peace.
Gardening totally counts as creative in my book.
Transforming a corner into a garden like that definitely counts as creative expression in my books. Beautiful.
Hiking does count! It’s a great way to get your mind off your story, and then the plot gets figured out during your walks:)
I’m still surprised at what happens when I take that hike, short or long, doesn’t seem to matter. New ideas and often some solutions to problems I couldn’t figure out.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I definitely think gardening can be creative. I’d like to have one someday, I just have to get over my allergies.
Nice quotes.
I hear you about allergies. The redwoods are my biggest challenge. They send out a yellow power in the spring that makes Sneezy the dwarf look healthy compared to me.
Wow is an understatement for the work you did! Definitely qualifies for creativity! Thank you for sharing those photos. I can’t wait till spring so I can do a little in the yard we have now. Renting keeps me from investing too much into the yard, but I still hope to leave it better than how I found it. Love the quotes!
That’s a wonderful way to think of a rental place. And you can enjoy it while you’re there.
Your gardens are beautiful. I love the effort you put in it. And I loved all the photos!
Hi Nas. Thanks. Hope all is well out in your part of the world.
Gardening seems to be a theme this month from bloggers across the country. I’ll have to round p the troops here and do something to grow veggies.
Those veggies are the best!
I love gardens and gardening. 🙂 Your garden looks amazing. Love seeing all the before and after pictures. What a beautiful area you have created.
Thanks, Jess. It is often my sanctuary.
Wow! Your garden is gorgeous! I would say that’s definitely creative and a lot of hard work!
I love your garden. What a wonderful way to create beauty and serenity.
It is a quiet spot, and the birds love the ponds so they entertain me a lot.
I used to love gardening. It was such a relaxing activity. Living on a boat means it’s not possible nowadays, but maybe some day I’ll be able to get back to it.
I can see why gardening isn’t in your life right now. I think your view is quite beautiful.
I’m stuck in Winnipeg this winter, and now I’m going to dream about your garden for the rest of it. It looks lovely, peaceful.
Lots of snow? I’ll bet. We had a smattering of it this year, and it was exciting, but nothing deep and long-lasting like where you are.
I would definitely count gardening as creative. I love your gardening pics. Thanks for the lovely quotes too!
Hi Gwen,
Thanks. Sometimes quotes are exactly what I need to pick me up. Glad you liked these.
I love your garden and enjoy both gardening and walking… I have a plot in a community garden that’s locked up like Fort Knox to keep the deer and occassional feral pig out… Enjoying winter vegetables now—turnips, rutabagas, beets, cabbage, mustard greens and Swiss chard (and just dried my first turmeric that I dug up a week ago). It’s all good
I’d love to be a part of a communal garden–share the labor and the crops. That seems like a perfect relationship. Is it easy to grow tumeric? I was going to try some out this year. You have my mouth watering at those winter crops.
The community garden isn’t really communal as there are individual plots that everyone works. But there’s a lot of sharing of seeds and plants and common work on watering system and stuff. We also purchase together large loads of organic compost, which makes it cheaper and easier than hauling bags of the stuff. The covenants for the community I live in don’t allow gardens in one’s property, so this is a nice alternative (and with the fencing it means you’re not just feeding the deer).
Tumeric takes a long time (10 months) to grow–but other than good soil and a warm climate, it doesn’t require any additional attention.
I can see how this is a mutually helpful arrangement. I’m thinking that 10 months is a long time, but it still might be worth the effort. Thanks, Jeff.
“To be creative means to be in love with life.” ~ Osho. Love it. I must love life a lot. I find traveling creative — gives me new settings to explore and new people to find their way into my stories.
Love your gardening prowess. I love a beautiful garden but not so much the work involved.
Traveling definitely comes under the category creative. Nothing like it to open your mind and give you a different perspective.
Gardening is definitely creative. Wow, I love the first harvest!! Impressive!
Some are better than others. That summer I couldn’t keep up with the produce.
That beautiful garden is definitely creative. Not everyone can grow delicious veggies and fruits. Trust me. I know. I’ve tried.
So true. Some years are good. Others, I ask myself why did I bother? Kind of like writing books.
I love that quote by Albert Einstein. I putter in my garden and I believe it absolutely counts as creativity. Figuring out what to plant and where, to make it beautiful!!
And when I make a mistake, I consider how much I’ve learned. Gardens are great teachers.
I consider gardens to be works of art. Thanks for sharing yours.
Thank you for that, Diane. I love gardens and have come to appreciate the art in each of them, no matter how different.
Sure counts indeed as your green thumb takes seed.
I knew I could count on a rhyme from the cat man! Thanks.
I love your garden!
Thanks. It often is what keeps me sane.
Gardening definitely counts. I wanted to be a landscape architect in college and it was the perfect mix of art and science. Beautiful work Lee. The quotes are great too 🙂
You’re so right about landscape architecture being a lovely mix of art and science. I’d love to take a class in that one day.
Gardening is the ultimate creativity, as your garden illustrates. Besides, all creative endeavors require lots of work. Gardening is not unique in that either.
Love the Einstein’s quote. So nice to feel myself in the ‘intelligence’ camp, assuming I’m creative. I think I’m. 🙂
Creativity is work, and I appreciate your creative contributions to WEP because I know you put a lot of time into the badges and the stories you write.
You did a great job on your garden. I wouldn’t know where to start.
I treated the project like a WIP. I stared at it a long time before I picked up my shovel. 🙂
That is definitely a creative talent to make something lovely and productive out of nothing. Love those quotes.
The best thing about this creation was I got no bad reviews. The plants rebelled once in a while, but outside of that, I got 100% approval. Now that made it all worthwhile.
Your garden is very impressive! And a welcome sight on this dreary winter day. For half a second I was wondering where you lived, that you had magical summer weather already! 🙂
I should have noted that these are spring and summer pictures. It’s dormant right now, but I am getting some tulips and daffodils an paperwhites. It won’t be long and it will look pretty again.
Yes, gardening is definitely creative. Hiking can be too. There’s a blogger who hikes Joshua Tree and photographs it. That’s what much of his blog posts are about. You should see the pictures…
I love people who do that kind of blog. Have you seen #OneHourWalk on facebook? I like that because it gives me ideas of other places to hike. I post there once in a while, too.
I have not seen it. I don’t spend much time on Facebook.
Anyway, his blog is here: https://sparepartsandpics.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Liz. I’ll take a look.
I love your garden. I still love gardening but not as much as when my husband was alive. But I have had a small veggie garden plot dug out a few years ago. I used to have a vegetable garden too and am enjoying a really small one that’s perfect for me.
I’m downsizing mine, too. Now that it’s just me, I can’t raise the vegetables the way I used to and eat them. I always gave some away, but this year I’d be giving most of them to neighbors and friends. Maybe more flowers.
Gardening is definitely an art. I love looking at and walking through gardens, enjoying the visual beauty and knowing the love and care needed to create them. Your results are gorgeous.
I loved the title The Constant Gardener. That’s so what it takes, and I have to admit there are times I don’t want pull out that hoe.
Thanks for stopping in today.
It looks beautiful, well done on creating such a glorious space. I’m sure it gives you much pleasure.
Well, you’ve proved gardening is very creative. And I wish I had your green thumb. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
What a gorgeous space! Lovely!
Gardens ARE a lot of work. In addition to money I pour blood, sweat and tears into mine. And it is all worth it despite, as you say, the work never being done.
What a gorgeous job on your garden! I hope someone helped. It looks like endless work. And I like Einstein’s quote. For a brainiac, he had a lot of creative comments.
I think Einstein was the most honest and modest genius in the world. He always said that people gave him far more credit than he deserved. I disagree with him, but what a wonderful thing to say.
I always have that 2nd Einstein quote up in my classroom – love it!!
Gardening is most definitely creative – and something I’m not very good at. Your pics are awesome!
I agree that his quote is inspiring. Glad you keep it up in your classroom.
Hiking is a great form of exercise and can help with stress. Gardening is definitely a creative outlet…an art. 🙂
Your garden definitely falls into the category of ‘creative.’ My garden has deteriorated to such an extent that it’s now a wildlife preserve. I’m calling it good.
Add “Preserve” to anything and it’s good! Great idea.
Thanks for the visit and for co-hosting this month.
That is awesome! I can definitely see all the hard work put into it, but it was well worth it. 🙂
I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I usually have one Tea Party each spring with friends. That motivates me to dig and plant again.
That garden is definitely creative… and amazing! It looks like the perfect place to just sit and zen for a while.
Spring is the best time. I do get out in it a lot in April and May. By June I might have some time for meditative moments, but I’m so easily distracted by a weed here and a needy plant there.
Omigosh! Your garden is absolutely lovely. I would love walking there every day. And sitting there reading a book. I might never go inside, LOL 🙂
I also love your quotes, especially the Osho one. I’d never heard it before.
Come by. Bring a good book. I plan to put up a new hammock this summer. You’ll love it.
I enjoy looking at gardens, but don’t know if I’d have the patience or interest to cultivate my own large garden. I might be able to do a rock garden, though.
Enjoying one is half the equation, and I love it when people visit mine.
Gardening is a lot of hard work. I put in a fairy/rock garden by my house last summer and it got me into shape! Then the chipmunks invaded and ruined a lot of it. Grrr.
There are always the critters that work against you. I’m waiting for the gophers and ground squirrels to attack. They’re as regular as spring.
Hi, Cheryl-Lee!
There’s no doubt about it. You created a beautiful garden spot from a vacant space. From the ashes of a burned down home rose an arbor, ponds, lush greenery and an abundant harvest. I applaud you, dear friend!
Like you I appreciate both quotes of the month. When you are in “up time,” fully engaged in life, you are at your creative best.
It’s great to see you again, dear friend C-Lee. Enjoy the rest of your week and short month!
Hi Shady,
Thanks. The garden is something very tangible that I love to sweat over, and then walk through. As a creative endeavor, it’s so much different than writing.
See you at your place soon.
I love what you did with the garden. I should post transformation photos of our back yard. It was so plain and blah three years ago. I envy your pond. We’d like one, but I’d want resident frogs to eat the massive mosquitoes we get here.
You should. I think turning blah into beautiful is always exciting. Get some mosquito fish and you won’t have any mosquitoes in that pond.
Bet that took a lot of work, but well worth the effort.
Come spring I start the work again. Never ends.