Spring Fling: Lunch at Nuevo León with Tom Spencer
After touring the Wildflower Center, the garden bloggers drove a short distance to Nuevo León, a Mexican restaurant in Circle C, to have lunch and to listen to a talk by Soul of the Garden’s Tom Spencer. Pam arranged for us all to take a group photo, which she kindly shared with those of us who were there:
At lunch is when the community and relationship building of Spring Fling really began for me. At lunch I sat at table with Gail of Clay and Limestone, Dee of Red Dirt Ramblings, Julie of The Human Flower Project, Anneliese of Cobrahead, Melissa of Zanthan Gardens, and Susan of Lifescapes. Anneliese and I talked about her veggie gardening experiences with her dad, and Melissa asked a few questions about my studies in linguistics. Susan shared some insight into wearing the many different hats of student, scholar, teacher, mother, gardener, and professional writer; it was a conversation that will stay with me for a long time.
In his talk “Gathered Stones: Garden Memories,” Tom Spencer shared some of his own childhood memories of nature and gardening. He shared memories of his father’s stone terraced garden; of growing up with birch trees in upstate New York; of collecting pebbles from the driveway of his childhood home; of viewing goldfinches through his bedroom window, with the smell of bacon cooking and his parents’ voices in the background; of the depression he felt upon moving from New York to the refinery town of Port Arthur, Texas; and of discovering river birch trees (and re-discovering a love for nature) while on a canoeing trip with high school friends. Tom’s speech was characteristically warm and open. It was a pleasure to hear him speak in person after reading and admiring Soul of the Garden from afar for years now.
Tom spoke about the sacredness of such childhood memories of nature, and he advocated for re-engaging children with nature for the sake of their spiritual development. I couldn’t agree more. I can’t wait to share nature and gardening with my son, now nearly eight months old, asleep in his father’s arms as I type.
In addition to gardening, poetry is an important part of Tom’s spirituality, as other readers of Soul of the Garden already know. I’ll end this post with one of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver that Tom included in his talk on Saturday.
The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
(from New and Selected Poems, Beacon Press, 1992)
Next Spring Fling post: touring the garden of James David
Posted in community
April 7th, 2008 at 7:21 pm CDT
Thanks for posting the text to the Oliver poem. I will never look at a grasshopper in the same way again
You’re welcome!
-Brianna
April 8th, 2008 at 5:02 am CDT
Wonderful summary of your lunchtime experience, Brianna. Thank you for sharing it.
I really enjoyed Tom’s talk too. I’d read Oliver’s poem on his site before, but hearing him recite it brought new dimension to it.
I know what you mean. I love hearing someone else read one of my favorite poems. Even if I’ve already read it aloud for myself, hearing how another reader performs it tends to uncover something new for me.
-Brianna
April 8th, 2008 at 1:31 pm CDT
Great summary - I tried to tell my mom about it & all I got out was something about gardening & the gardens of our childhood. I’ll have my mom read this post.
Glad this summary is useful.
-Brianna
April 8th, 2008 at 8:56 pm CDT
I’m so glad that I got to talk with you over lunch. I AM fascinated by your other hats, for instance you background in linguistics. That is a branch of study that interests me very much although I’ve always been a dunce at learning any language. (I’ve tried Spanish, Latin, and Japanese but I can barely remember the English I was born to.)
Anytime you’re in my ‘hood don’t be shy about stopping by. And if you’d like any wildflower seeds, let me know. This heat is drying up the meadow pretty quickly and in a month or so, I’ll have plenty to share.
I’d love some wildflower seeds! And thanks for the invitation to stop by. I enjoyed visiting your garden on Saturday, and I’d love to visit again sometime when we have more time to chat about linguistics.
-Brianna
April 9th, 2008 at 7:03 am CDT
Brianna, I enjoyed your reflections on Tom’s talk and thank you, thank you for the text to the Mary Oliver poem. You have so many special times in the garden to look forward to with your son … enjoy!
You’re welcome Cindy, and thanks for reading. I enjoyed meeting you at Spring Fling.
-Brianna
April 9th, 2008 at 8:40 am CDT
Brianna,
Enjoyed meeting you.
I thought it was very moving that the garden bloggers gathering was the first extended time you’d been away from your infant son.
Hope the afternoon went as well for him and for your husband as it did for all of us!
Julie
Nice meeting you, too, Julie. Both my husband and the baby were alive and well when I got home. In fact, Nathan said he really enjoyed spending the whole day with him, one-on-one. *swoon* Must do that again.
-Brianna
April 9th, 2008 at 9:03 am CDT
Although the poem wasn’t new to me it was a different experience hearing Tom speak the words. Brianna, we only met briefly - hope there will be more chances for the Austin bloggers to see each other and to stroll each other’s garden spaces.
I’m following MMGD’s plan and sending my husband here to read your eloquent post.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Yeah, it was wonderful meeting you, Annie, and I’d definitely enjoy having more time to chat. Glad you liked the summary of Tom’s talk, too.
-Brianna
April 10th, 2008 at 10:21 am CDT
Great description of the lunch. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to visit more with you and we could have talked “mommy talk”. I agree with you about involving your children with nature. Jack loves to garden with me and I often walk him around the garden with me after I pick himm up from school and we talk about all of the plants growing. He has his own little shovel, pail and garvest bag that we got at Target.