Wabi-Sabi

May 1. 2015
Friday

Dear Readers,

What a beautiful day. We've had wonderful rains this Spring and my garden is spectacular. I always say plant (ready, year one), root (set, year two), grow (go, year three)! I've always envisioned my own little Garden of Eden aka an English Country Garden and it's getting there. It's been an undertaking of love with plants coming from empty lots, friends, and Lowe's sale table at the end of the season.

Three years ago, the back yard was a mess of weeds and dirt. There was a brown shed behind the garage that was falling down. Not much to work with except a few trees that Dad Seidler had planted. Today, it shines with color and texture!

I had my camera with me yesterday and had fun shooting some pictures. I put them on my computer and posted some thoughts on Facebook. I wondered if anyone else appreciated the imperfectness of old houses and architectural details. Surprisingly I had quite a few comments ~ the most intriguing was from my cousin's wife in Minneapolis, MN. She simply said: Wabi-Sabi. Being naturally curious, I googled it and thought, "Imperfect, just my kind of perfect!"

Wabi-Sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profoundness in nature. It is accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. As I walk the streets where I live, I am intrigued by the once splendor homes of a once thriving community. Many famous celebrities graced our streets and I can shut my eyes and imagine the activity going on as folks sat on their front porches sipping tea (sweetened, of course).  Wabi-Sabi is aged wood, the celebration of cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. I keep thinking someone will notice the beauty of these old homes and realize what a bargain they are.

I came here (not happily I might add) to live in the house Michael grew up in. The lil casa as I call it has become home despite it's need for tender loving care. We gutted the house and brought it back into the twenty first century without losing it's history. I found peace in the moss growing on the front steps and the cracked paint on the handrails. Our contractor, Lupe, wanted to power wash the stone facade but I said no.

Mom Seidler didn't care much about the outside of the house preferring to stay inside and watch TV. Me? I envisioned a lil casa with an English Country Garden with sections set apart as if time gradually gave birth to new gardens.  In March of 2012, I sat on top of the storm shelter looking down at a dilapidated garage wondering if I could find someone to take my vision and run with it. I didn't want a new garage, I wanted an imperfectly perfect place where I could write, pray, and have that much needed time of reflection. The beams have holes where dad's tools hung, the floor is wood (painted, made to look very old). I have a claw foot tub to relax in ... there are no inside doors. I was fortunate because I found a contractor who would work with me day by day to use what we had and not make it look new. Two other contractors had told me I was crazy to renovate a termite infested garage that never held a car.

In Wabi-Sabi, the ability to make do with less is revered. Throughout my life, I have lived in new homes filled with exquisite furnishings. In 2002, God showed me that life was not about stuff and I began to live differently. I lived in a 3700 sq foot home ~ every room, nook, and cranny was filled. I sold furniture, I asked my children to bring moving vans and take what they wanted. What was left, I gave away ... oriental rugs, paintings ... stuff. I kept only enough to furnish a one bedroom apartment. I found harmony, peace, tranquility, and balance.  I lived simply, unmaterialisticly, and humble. I became my perfectly imperfect self. 

Have you ever taken a drive in the country just because? Have you stopped to look an an old car left in to rust transforming the field from an eyesore into a part of the landscape? My great grandfather came to Stevens County, Minnesota and established a beautiful working farm. There was an orchard, gardens of flowers and vegetables, silos, and various other buildings including a huge barn. Horses were used for transportation and cows drank from a water tank. Today, no one lives there ... there is an abandoned barn, an old farmhouse once alive with family has fallen into decay. I want so badly to go back and see the orchard and the place where I played as a child ~ a place where my mother was born and grew into a woman. I need to do that soon.

When I was in England, I loved the patina of cobblestone streets and buildings of centuries ago.  My maternal family came to America in the 1500's from England bringing with them a simplicity of purpose. Wabi-Sabi is the gift of time, the gift of things old and weathered. The gift of ancestry and culture. I like that!

I have the love letters my father wrote my mother in WWII. I have the diary, my mother kept when she was in high school.  It means a lot to touch, to see, to feel what they were feeling.  I have odd pieces that I've found in abandoned houses and  everything has a story. I like it that way!! Candles light the shadowed corners at dusk. Yes, I am drawn to weathered, warped, shrinking, cracking, and peeling.

The article I read on Wabi-Sabi was enlightening. I got a chuckle out of the statement, "Wabi, not slobby." Wabi-Sabi is not using it as an excuse for an unmade bed, an unswept floor, or soiled furniture. Wabi-Sabi is never messy, ragged, dirty. As I thought about Wabi-Sabi and what it meant to me, I realized that the reason my treasures are so precious is because the patina of time gives them beauty and a story.

Sorry, Readers, Miss Dottie is a clean fanatic. When my surroundings are dirty and cluttered, my state of being becomes agitated. To me, cleanliness implies respect. When my bed is neatly made, the romance of an old quilt blossoms.  My well worn books beg to be picked up and read. The oak wood sloped floors exhibit the remembrance of nearly 70 years of being tread upon. I laugh as I walk from the bedroom to the kitchen ~ if I had a ball it would naturally roll in front of me.

The lil casa and cottage are meant to be welcoming ... a sanctuary for me and all who enter. I have been struggling with back issues for the past year and had extensive surgery two months ago. It has bothered me that I have not been able to get down and scrub my floors and be able to welcome guests any time of day or evening. Today, Wabi-Sabi was on my mind and I made a list of things that I needed to do, some things that I needed help doing, and other things that would further my love of all things old that have been worn with time. 

I walked out to the back garden and looked at my table and chairs (an old set from an ice cream parlor). Mom had a beautiful old tablecloth that would be perfect on it. The more I thought about it, the more excited I got about having friends over for some sweetened iced tea and cake.  I am reminded that with each friend that comes to call there is an opportunity to enjoy good company and the sharing of times past, present, future. I know not what might happen tomorrow or even during a day. Stopping to share conversation with someone I love is an easy opportunity to promote a sense of caring. Picture this ... a table set with a beautiful old tablecloth from 1950, a vase (circa 1950) of roses from the garden that gives off a heavenly scent, freshly brewed iced tea, and some baked goods. Can you hear the sound of water splashing in the fountain and know that this is a place of peace, harmony, and fellowship? Humor me, close your eyes and imagine.

I think that Wabi-Sabi is a mind set. It's learning to be satisfied with life, stripping away the perfect and living in the moment appreciative of a time gone by and the opportunity think about my own legacy.  As I walk through my gardens, I feel a sense of contentment. I am able to look at the many different gardens planted at different times with stone borders. I am so glad that Dianne mentioned Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese art of imperfect beauty.

HGTV is renovating an old home just down the street. They have taken off the modern siding and are bringing it back to the magnificent home it once was. I hope they will use salvaged materials and find the history underneath years of modernization. Maybe I'll take a walk down there tomorrow and have a look see. Our little city is full of beautiful old homes that are crying out to be saved. The weeds are growing up, the picket fences falling down, and porches that once meant gathering to connect are warped with boards missing. It makes me so sad...

This blog is a little different. Two of my passions are that of a creative designer using old interesting pieces and that of gardening. You might say I have a God-given creative bent!

Miss Dottie

Heavenly Father, I thank you for old houses, memorabilia, and the art of Wabi-Sabi. There are times when I swear you take my heart and pour it into my creative endeavors. I pray for those on my prayer list. For those experiencing pain, I pray for relief!! For those children in South America that are being used to satisfy the perversions of pedophiles, I pray for freedom ... I pray that these houses of evil to be burned to the ground and the people who cultivate this kind of atrocity would be arrested. I pray for those who are struggling with depression and a sense of desperation. Show them your tender mercy and grace. For those who are ill, I pray for healing ~ for those seeking employment, I pray for doors to open. Be with your children Father as we struggle. Move mightily as souls are won. Please Lord show mercy to our country as we have fallen into the pits of self-centeredness. Open our hearts, minds, and souls as we reach out in your son Jesus' name. Amen!!