I was raised a Midwestern Country Mouse, but after living in New York City for 27 years, I’ve definitely earned my City Mouse stripes. Yet, regardless of my city dwellings, I’m a big fan of the great outdoors.
As a kid I took for granted the experiences of riding bikes down country roads and playing in acres of pasture. The freedom. The space. The clean air. As an adult, living in a big city makes outdoor adventure a destination, rather than the ease of taking a few steps into my childhood backyard.
One of my recent outdoor adventure destinations was The New York Botanical Gardens (NYBG) in the Bronx. Note to New Yorkers: if you are looking to give a generous gift to someone, consider a membership. My dear friend Paige gave me a membership to the NYBG for Christmas and it truly is the gift that keeps on giving all year long.
Do you know the 92 year old Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama? Her Cosmic Nature installation and garden exhibit came to the NYBG this year and I’ve been three times already. Maybe you are familiar with her signature polka dots and pumpkins. It was exciting to see her sculptures and visions ‘planted’ all throughout the gardens.
It’s been interesting how the gardens have changed each time I visited. The sculptures stay the same but the environment grows and blooms new things around them. My first visit, there were blooms, and by my next visit, many plants lost their flowers and were fully green with leaves.
It’s almost like I’ve had a mini time-lapse experience.
time-lapse
/ˈtīm ˌlaps/
adjective
denoting the photographic technique of taking a sequence of frames at set intervals to record changes that take place slowly over time. When the frames are shown at normal speed, or in quick succession, the action seems much faster.
I recently packed my Country Mouse bag and flew back to Missouri to help out at home. During my time there, I took my mom for a walk around our property. I moved away from home when I was 18 years old, but I love my childhood house and revisiting my beloved playtime haunts is something I always relish.
Our mom, Little Rita, suffered a brain injury a number of years ago and her memories are hit and miss these days. There is a sweet childlike innocence talking with her because many tidbits of information, even if they’re her own past experiences, are ‘new’ to her.
It was fun reminding Mom about our family history with dog kennels full of hunting dogs, raising and butchering a calf each year, horse riding in the pasture, and all of the amazing things we grew in our garden. This trip was a special treat for me to relive those stories with mom. She was seeing and hearing our family’s history for the ‘first’ time, a NEW time. We had fun trying to remember how the grounds used to look.
I actually thought a lot about my NYBG visits while I was home. In New York I marveled at glorious blooms; cherry blossoms, lilacs, gardenias, and peonies. I marveled at all the glorious things growing around my Joplin, Missouri home too, but they were mostly non-flowering trees. Dwarf Japanese Maple, English Oaks, Pecan, and Loblolly Pine Trees.
Blooms in New York:
Trees in Missouri:
I truly gauge change when I go home by the changes in the pine trees lining our driveway. Talk about a time-lapse! These four pine trees were tiny saplings our dad brought back from his home in Arkansas. (I recently found out that the Pine tree is the official state tree of Arkansas!) Dad planted them when I was really small. I remember the years we’d get in trouble for getting too close to them with the lawn mower. It’s a miracle they made it at all.
I think about how big and strong those trees are now. And for a pine tree, they’re young! They have many years ahead of them. Those trees will live on, long after our dad and his girls are gone. I appreciate any experience with nature all the more for having less access to it when I’m in NYC, but I really appreciate my personal connection to the nature when I’m around my Missouri home.
One of the things I do when I go home is go out to the front of our house, stand in the road and take a photo. It is indeed a time-lapse technique employed to record changes. It’s interesting to think about what causes change.
The outside of the house is always the same. I mean, that’s what makes coming home so lovely and comforting — familiarity. Yes, the weather and seasons have aged it and there are subtle differences with each photo, but what really changes are the things growing around it. And what’s really changed is the life INside of it.
When I take these photos I think about who I am with earnest curiosity. How have I changed? What does my personal time-lapse look like? What, besides the weather and seasons, has changed around me that has effected change withIN me? Relationships, politics, health, climate, environmental changes… Some effect me more than others. What in your life can you look at with a time-lapse lens to gauge change?
The Kusama exhibit also inspired me in the kitchen! I’m not sharing a Japanese recipe like you might think, but a Thai one. I was asked by a client to make a green papaya salad. I went to HMart, the Asian market in NYC, to seek out the ingredients. Back in my kitchen, I sliced open the green papaya and it truly looked cosmic, full of ‘polka-dot’ seeds! And the long beans were also like arms from some other worldly creature. I knew this salad would be a great representation of the exhibit and also be perfect to take to a picnic or the beach! It’s summer, friends!.
Som Tum (Thai Green Papaya Salad)
4 SERVINGS
3 Tablespoons lime juice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I don’t think this isn’t typical, but I love the zing)
salt and pepper
2 cups Chinese long beans, cut into 2“ pieces (you can substitute fresh green beans)
2 cups shredded green papaya (After peeling and removing the seeds, you can do this on a box grater or using the shredding disc on your food processor.)
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 red Fresno chili thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
Chopped salted peanuts for garnish
Place the first 6 ingredients , plus a pinch of salt and pepper, in a jar with a tightly closing lid. Shake vigorously. This is the dressing! Set it aside.
Blanche the beans in a saucepan of boiling salted water until they are tender, but still have a snap to them, about 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water to stop the cooking and to keep them green and bright. Place the grated green papaya in a large bowl. Add the green beans, tomatoes, cilantro, and chili. Pour dressing over; toss until everything is coated. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top.